Paper Thin Promises
by Tainted Tuesday
Summary: All Luciana Lorenzo wanted to do was finish some experiments, but Reborn has plans and she knows better than to deny him, lest she sought a trip to the ER. Hibari/OC HibariOC HibarixOC 18OC 18/OC 18xOC.
1. Chance Meeting

**Disclaimer: I own only my original characters and this fanfic. KHR belongs to the mighty Amano Akira.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

**Chance Meeting**

"Lorenzo!"

A girl covered in soot barely looked up from her work. "What do you want?"

The man's eye twitched at being addressed so rudely. He should have been used to it by now, but he wasn't.

"Reborn is looking for you. He wants you to meet him as soon as possible. He didn't say where though."

She paused, mid-soldering. "Hm."

"Hm?"

"Hmm… is that all?"

He sighed. "Yes."

She waved at him to leave. "I'm going to finish fixing this piece before I go."

He left wordlessly, hands clenched at his side, shaking slightly. When the man left, the girl rolled her eyes as if she knew what was going on inside his head. She then picked up a blade, and with inhuman precision, carved her name into the metal for copyright measures.

"Luciana, Lorenzo. There we are!" Luciana held the strange piece of machinery up at face level and grinned widely. Her reflection grinned back.

She threw off her work gloves and boots and headed down the hall, barefoot. It wasn't odd to see someone walking down the research hallway barefoot. Actually, it was stranger to see someone wearing shoes in the hall! People rarely came out of their lab, but many messengers were sent. Those messengers had dirty shoes. This ticked off the researchers, Luciana included. It was then decided that everyone would enter it the traditional Japanese way. Take off your freaking shoes and either go barefoot or wear slippers. If someone didn't, Luciana would have their neck for it.

Luciana was short for her ethnicity and age, but that was a given. She had her hands full all day and hardly had anytime time outside and didn't eat the healthiest of foods.

She padded down the immaculate halls and spoke into a voice activated locker door to retrieve her outdoor boots. But she couldn't even go four steps without her phone buzzing in her pocket. Luciana sighed and fished it out of her pocket, the other hand rubbing her temples when she saw the caller ID. It was one of her more difficult customers.

"I've been calling you for the past half hour, why haven't you answered?" A gruff voice demanded.

Luciana glared at nothing in particular, "I was—"

"Forget it! It seems I need them sooner than expected, tomorrow actually."

"Hm…"

She heard an aggravated sigh on the other end. "What now? You don't have them ready?"

"No," she replied. "It's not that. I leave for Japan tomorrow, so this is all kind of messing up my schedule."

"Get it here by tomorrow at noon, or the deal's off."

The connection died.

Luciana snapped her phone closed and swore quite loudly, "If he wasn't a customer…"

"Gokudera call you again?"

She didn't have to look to know who it was. "Go away Marco Polo."

Marc Pol just laughed. "Hey, you don't have to start biting my head off. I was just doing some maintenance."

Luciana stopped, turned around, and leaned on the wall. "Why are you still around anyways? I thought I got rid of your kind when I installed the self-repairing bots."

Marc smiled. "They kept a few of us. Besides, with you gone and no one to keep watch for technical bugs, a few maintenance men are good to have around."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "Hm, that's true. Well, later Marco Polo, uncle Reborn's got something for me to do."

"Bye, and good luck in Japan."

"Hm…" She resumed her walk and gave him a curt wave. After a series of turns and taking four different elevators, Luciana stopped in front of the back door. She whispered another password and the door slid open soundlessly.

She knew where Reborn was since he had told her beforehand. Luciana was less than excited to go get her hair cut. There was nothing wrong with her current haircut. Sure, there was soot and dust in it, and her scalp had gotten oily, but a good shower would fix all that.

Apparently that wasn't the problem, but the length.

* * *

><p>"Reborn, I'm here!"<p>

"Ciaossu, Luciana."

She took the seat right of Reborn. "You're getting a haircut too?"

"I have to remain in top shape at all times. Plus, my hair was getting a little long."

Luciana raised an eyebrow, "Really? I didn't notice since you wear that hat all the time."

"Excuse me, are you Luciana Lorenzo?"

"Hm?" Luciana looked up to see a tall blonde lady drying her hands with a towel. Her hair was done up in a sophisticated yet wild manner. Luciana suddenly felt small compared to her. "Uh, yes. I believe I have an appointment right now."

The lady put her hands on her hips, and her lips quirked up. She didn't look impressed.

"A girl should take more care of her hair! Look at you, you're a mess! How do you go out in public like this?"

Luciana was a little speechless. "I—"

"No, no, forget it! I'll fix you right up. By the way, my name's Ciare."

"Ur, hello Ciare. It's nice to meet you," Luciana fumbled with her words and blinked dumbly at Ciare. She wasn't used to people like this, and Ciare's attitude reminded her of a person from a recent phone call…

"So Luciana, what kind of haircut would you like?"

"Boy-cut."

Both heads turned to Reborn.

"Luciana will get a boy-cut," he repeated.

Ciare looked at Luciana for confirmation, "Really? All this hair will go to waste…"

Luciana shrugged, "Sure, I guess. Something that doesn't require much care would be good. I don't uhhh, really pay much attention to my appearance…"

Ciare sighed, "I can see that. A boy-cut then. I'll try to make it look good, even though it's on you…"

Luciana clenched her fists. This lady was starting to get on her nerves.

Ciare put one of those apron-like things that Luciana couldn't recall the name of around her neck and quickly cut off almost all of her hair. It was left slightly below her shoulders.

"Okay, now get up and come with me."

Luciana did as instructed, albeit a bit reluctantly. She was led to what looked like a sink.

"Sit here and tilt your head back. First we have to wash your hair since it's so dirty."

"Right."

Luciana made a mental note to send this lady a _gift_ later.

She had to admit, the warm water did feel nice. Since Luciana couldn't move, she opted to stare at the clock while thinking about what that customer said. She glared at nothing again. It was strange for an order to be changed. Luciana groaned inwardly. It didn't help that he was one of her regulars. She'd have to do something about the delivery very soon. The last shipment for today was supposed to go at 9PM, and it was already 5PM.

"Hey Ciare, how long do you think it'll take you to finish my hair?"

Ciare paused for a second, "Well, normally it would take an hour, but…"

"But?"

"But I've got other customers, and we're short staffed today so I'll be cutting other people's hair before yours."

"Tough luck…"

"Why, are you in a hurry?" Ciare stopped to drain the water and apply shampoo. "You should have made an appointment earlier then."

Luciana's brows furrowed. "Let's just say there were some last minute changes to my schedule."

Ciare shrugged and kept scrubbing away at Luciana's scalp. Her hair was especially dirty, there was even a bit of tar at the roots. Ciare's eye twitched at how repulsive this girl was. Why was there tar in her hair anyways? What the hell was this girl doing, fixing cars?

After a few more minutes of furious scrubbing and reapplying shampoo twice, Luciana's hair was finally free of the tar. Ciare squeezed some of the water out lightly and motioned for Luciana to get up and follow her. Luciana found herself seated at the salon's hair dryers. Those things were bloody huge, Luciana noted to herself.

"Now just wait here until your hair is dry, I'm going to clean my scissors." And without another word, Ciare left Luciana to her own devices.

Her own devices.

Luciana gave herself a little grin.

"Luciana."

Hm? She tilted her head slightly. "Yes, Reborn?"

"Instead of plotting, you should be thinking of a persona since you are under orders to not reveal your identity. Also, stop staring at the clock, it might burst into flames."

A sigh. "What am I supposed to do for the next hour then?"

Reborn only got up and left.

Without paying.

Luciana had a feeling that he told Ciare she would be paying for him. Luciana groaned and covered her face with her hands. She didn't bring any money, and Reborn knew that. Which meant she should've known, but—wait, why was she worrying again? It took a full three seconds for her to realize that she was part of an underground criminal organization, and so not paying for her haircut shouldn't have made her feel this uneasy.

But it did.

And it bothered her.

A lot.

The haircut went smoothly. The haircut. Luciana on the other hand had made several plans in her head to arrange a separate shipment based on the time her haircut was done.

It was now 6 PM and Ciare was hot on her trail while she ran for dear life. It didn't help that she couldn't just go back the normal way since she would be leading her straight to the secret entrance.

Whilst running, mumbling and fumbling around in her pocket for her phone, Luciana saw the familiar shape of a fedora. Said shape turned her way and she mentally cursed as she saw Reborn holding a Leon-gun—aimed not at her—but at Ciare who had given up half a block back.

Wait, what?

"Don't do it Reborn!"

"You never exercise unless someone slaps you in the face."

Luciana's jaw went slightly slack as she saw the bullet whiz through the air in slow motion, hit its target in the forehead, and the flame of the dying will bullet sprouting.

Why…?

She just wanted a haircut…

* * *

><p>She managed to escape with only scrapes and bruises, which thank the lord, pleased Reborn lest he decided to sic another raging woman with scissors on her. They would leave for Japan tomorrow morning, get all their stuff ready at a hotel and infiltrate the Sawada household the day after.<p>

So now Luciana was standing in a crowded airport since taking the private jet would have been too flashy. Her luggage went way over the limit for one person and so she only had the bare necessities with her. It made her feel… vulnerable. She needed to be surrounded with her work!

"Reborn…"

"No whining. Waiting for taxis is also part of your training."

She raised an eyebrow. What kind of training was that? She shrugged. Whatever. "Just wondering when my equipment is going to get here…"

"If you're so bored then go play tetris on your phone."

She grunted. "Maybe I will."

And she did.

Ten more minutes passed by before a honking taxi driver waved them over. Luciana had never been so thankful. There were a bunch of people giving her weird looks while they were waiting—was it because she was blonde?

Or maybe it was because she was literally coated head to toe in sunscreen…

When she got into the taxi, her questions were answered.

"Ah, miss, do you use a lot of sunscreen?"

She settled in the back seat with Reborn and put on her seatbelt. "Yes. I burn easily so I always have to put on gratuitous amounts of sunscreen before I go out. It gets rather frustrating."

"I can imagine."

They chatted more for a couple of minutes before drifting off into a comfortable silence.

Luciana didn't make small talk often, but she found that it was quite enjoyable.

_I'd like to do this more often…_

* * *

><p>They arrived at their hotel not too long after, actually <em>paid<em> the taxi driver as Luciana and Reborn had taken a liking to him and pushed open the double doors.

…

Room 1299.

"Why must it be so high… and so close to sun nonetheless…" Luciana grumbled from her spot in the corner of the elevator. Reborn didn't help the situation by taking a seat on her shoulder and tugging at her hair whenever he deemed she whined too much.

They didn't bother unpacking anything and just made sure they hadn't forgotten anything. When everything seemed to be in order, Reborn spoke up. "Luci, I hope you've thought about what I said last week."

She sat up from the fluffy bed. "The persona thing? Yeah, I thought about it. In fact, I drew up a sheet for you to see." She reached into her bag and pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of white paper and handed it to Reborn.

It was dangerous for her to be strutting around as Luciana Lorenzo so Reborn _suggested_ creating a persona for her stay in Japan. Luciana agreed immediately. She didn't want anyone bothering her while she was working.

"Kizuna Kira, male."

She smiled sheepishly. "I thought it'd be better this way…"

Reborn handed it back to her with an unreadable expression, "That's fine, but don't slip up."

Luciana laughed lightly. "I won't. If anything I hope someone else doesn't mess it up for me—and I don't mean you of course!" The last part was added when Reborn turned the Leon-gun on her again.

She didn't change much about herself; just her gender, birthday and name. She knew blending in plain sight was the best kind of disguise—but it didn't hurt to take extra precautions, hence the gender switch.

"So when do we leave for the Sawada's?"

"Six o'clock sharp."

_Oh god, I can't wake up that early…_

* * *

><p>Luciana—ah, Kira—stood beside Reborn as he slipped a piece of paper into the Sawada's mailbox.<p>

"So you'll take care of things here while I go scope out the school?"

Reborn hopped off her shoulder. "Don't forget your other job too."

"How could I?" She laughed. "It's what makes coming to Japan worthwhile."

She didn't waste another second and got into the car parked by the gates, starting it up. Her windows were tinted, but she specially designed it so that there was a separate sheet of glass that wasn't tinted so that if she ever got pulled over she could easily swap it and fake innocence. It was a neat trick, and along with her fake papers and face, she never got caught.

When people played the 'Guess How Old I Am' game, the guesses were all over the place.

Stopping a few blocks away from the school, Kira parked in an alley and activated the cloaking sequence—Vongola family special—and walked towards the school where a few students had already gathered. She noted their clothes and concluded they were part of a club, perhaps sports going by the bags.

She couldn't go this way.

Kira easily found the back of the school with a dumpster that lent her good leverage for climbing and hopping over the ridiculous fence. Seriously? For a school? For a mental asylum, yes, but a school? She did not understand it.

She tried to let herself fall as gently as possible from the top of the fence as she didn't want to try to roll with a bag over her shoulders. When she landed on the grass, she surveyed her surroundings. There was no one in sight. Perfect.

Looking at her wrist watch, she sighed when she realized she only had an hour to report back to Reborn.

First, she focused on the scene before her and began memorizing her surroundings. It wouldn't do to get lost—and god knows with her sense of direction she needed every bit of information she got.

Satisfied after reviewing the image in her mind, Kira ran towards an open window on the first floor. _Lucky!_ She grinned. She didn't have mad skills like Reborn and wasn't carrying anything that could propel her to higher grounds.

She crept through the first floor all the while making mental notes on the best places to build secret passageways and storage compartments for her equipment.

She finished the first floor in 15 minutes and headed for the second floor. She covered that floor just as quickly and headed for the third floor. With only 30 minutes left, she covered the third floor as fast as possible and was left with 20 minutes to report back to Reborn.

_Ack, I forgot about the roof! Oh whatever, that's not important._

Kira quickly dumped out all the contents of her bag and whipped open her laptop. Waking it from sleep mode she began punching in codes and sending pre-written instructions to the nano-bots sprawled across the floor. They mobilized in seconds after she hit START and began digging into the walls of Namimori Middle School.

Within 5 minutes they had dug a tunnel, sealed off the entrance and began constructing the rest of the tunnel's interior.

* * *

><p>When Kira arrived at the same spot she jumped down from she realized that she couldn't get back the same way since the dumpster was only on one side of the fence. She scratched the back of her head in thought and didn't notice the menacing presence behind her.<p>

"All trespassers will be bitten to death."

Ah. What a strange thing to say.

"Hello." She kept her composure even in the face of a tonfa. A boy a good head taller than her glared at her. Instinctively, she took in every detail of the new face and committed everything to memory—there was nothing scarier than not being able to remember.

"I'll give you ten seconds to explain yourself."

She ignored his tone, having dealt with much worse customers and tried to smile. "I don't need ten. I'm a transfer student and haven't received my uniform yet."

He didn't lower his guard but seemed less edgy. "Do you have proper identification?"

"I do." She turned her bag around and opened one of the smaller pockets, pulled out her fake passport and held it out for him to see. "I brought this just in case."

He took it wordlessly and scanned it before regarding her with suspicion again. "For an Italian your Japanese is strangely flawless."

It wasn't a compliment but a trap. "I've always been interested in Japan as a child and ended up learning Japanese along with Italian! Had something to do with anime, probably…"

He seemed to buy it and tossed the passport back to her before gesturing for her to follow him.

Kira kept counting down the time in her mind and grit her teeth as she imagined what Reborn would do to her when she arrived late. This was all for the sake of maintaining her cover so why did she have to go with some guy with a piss-poor attitude? Yes, his armband screamed that he was part of something called the Disciplinary Committee, but she hadn't been seen or heard breaking any rules, so why?

"Kizuna Kira, correct?"

Her head lifted at the sound of her persona. "Yes."

"Here is your uniform. Go to the front office to get your schedule." He shoved the uniform into her arms and barely gave her a second look until…

"Thank you," she shifted her shoulder so the bag strap would come off and she could put this away for now. But when she reached to unzip the bag with her left hand, she exposed a bit of her tattoo. "You know me, and I believe it is only customary that you introduce yourself as well."

He stared at her with a hard expression, but didn't glare this time. "Hibari Kyouya. I'm the head of the Disciplinary Committee, so if I find you breaking any rules I'll bite you to death. Consider yourself warned."

And with that he left.

Kira scratched at her cheek. Did he just say that again?

_I'll bite you to death… How strange to try to kill someone with your teeth…_

* * *

><p><strong>This is a rewrite of <strong>**Comfortable Calamity****, some of you may still remember it. It's been completely redone and if people like it enough I will continue AND finish it. I swear on my nonexistent grave I'm not lying.**

**So, review and tell me y/n**


	2. Charade, Start!

**Disclaimer: I will never ever own KHR!**

_Dame-Tsuna = No-Good Tsuna_

_Sensei = teacher_

But you guys already know that.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

**Charade, Start!**

"Kira, you're late."

She smiled sheepishly at Reborn. "Sorry, I ran into someone troublesome on my way back."

"We'll talk about that later." Reborn adjusted his fedora. "It's time to meet the Vongola Tenth."

Kira nodded and followed Reborn's lead. She fell back a few steps and watched as Reborn rang the doorbell, greet Sawada Nana and step inside.

"Sorry to intrude."

"Oh don't say that! Come in, come in!" Nana smiled brightly at Kira who tried to return it.

She took off her steel-toed hiking boots and stepped inside, unsure of whether she should speak or not. Luckily, Reborn did all the talking.

Eh, wait.

Kira blinked.

There was a boy at the top of the staircase, and he stared back at her.

Then…

"Mom, who are they?"

Kira twitched.

His voice was high.

He was pointing at them; a rude gesture.

His face held too much emotion; he was _this_ shocked to see people in his house?

_I've got so much work to do with you…_

"Ah, Tsu-kun, these are your new home tutors! Say hello to Reborn," she gestured towards Reborn without pointing at him; much better manners, "and Kira-kun!"

"Hello," Kira greeted with a small wave.

"Mom, I don't need or want tutors!"

Nana just waved him off and said that he'd better be nice before disappearing into the kitchen. "Sure you don't."

Tsuna looked extremely taken aback and began laughing at Reborn, which was a bad idea unless you already wrote a will. Karma worked quickly and he fell down the stairs, landing on his face in front of Reborn. As expected, Reborn responded by flipping Tsuna and thrashing him around some more when he didn't apologize immediately. Kira hummed to herself and stared at the scene with bored eyes; the kid would give up sooner or later.

"I give! I give!"

There you go.

"I'll wait outside."

Kira closed the door quietly behind her—although that was a bit pointless seeing as Tsuna's screams of terror carried through the walls—and fished her cellphone out of her pocket. There was one message waiting for her:

_Did you get to Japan yet?_

She leaned against the wall and began typing a reply when a slam of a door was heard and Tsuna stumbled out. She cut her text off short:

_Yes. The Vongola Tenth is an unremarkable boy. Talk to you later._

"Tsunayoshi."

"Hiie? Kira-san!"

Kira stood up straight and held her hand out for him to shake. "Just Kira is fine."

Tsuna looked at her with fright and caution but took her hand nonetheless. His grip was weak and his hands were shaky. _We'll have to fix that as well._ "Kira then…"

"I didn't introduce myself correctly, so allow me to do it again. As you know, I'm Kizuna Kira, Reborn's assistant tutor. I'll be teaching you about things like manners and how to improve your intrapersonal and interpersonal skills."

Tsuna wasn't buying it. _But you look like you're the same age as me! How can you be a qualified tutor? _He had this look on his face like he didn't want to be there; his eyes darted from side to side, his smile was too strained, and his shoulders tense. Kira had seen this before and felt the urge to send another text.

"It's okay, I'm not going to flip you if you don't do well."

"I-I-uh-I have to get to school!" he stuttered out quickly, inching away from her. "So I'll see you later!" _Hopefully not,_ he added in his head.

He only got a few steps before a voice stopped him, "We're in the same class."

Tsuna froze mid-run.

What…?

What?

WHAT?

The look of disbelief and horror was amazing.

"Y-y-you are?" he sputtered. Kira could practically see the gears turning in his head jamming and blowing a fuse. "What I mean to say is, you're going to _my _school?"

Kira couldn't help but grin. She took a few long strides to catch up with him and put her hand under his jaw to close it. His face went visibly red when he realized he had lost control on his jaw.

"S-sorry!"

"Don't worry about it. Now, shall we walk to school?"

"Eh, you know the way to my school?" Tsuna asked, still a little awkward about walking to school with some guy he just met, whom was apparently also going to be his tutor's assistant.

Kira grinned again, feeling proud. "Of course. What kind of assistant would I be if I didn't at least do some scouting beforehand?"

Tsuna paled and looked at her reluctantly. "Scouting?"

Kira stopped a few steps in front of him and nodded. "Yes, scouting. It's very basic."

"And w-what do you do exactly while you're scouting?"

Tsuna waited patiently for an answer while Kira averted her gaze to the sky and hummed. Should she tell him? Well, Reborn would reveal it sooner or later so…

"Okay, I'll tell you," she almost whispered and wagged her finger towards her, "come here." Tsuna swallowed nervously but did as she said. "I've built a bunch of secret tunnels in your school for Reborn and me to use."

Tsuna was _not_ good at keeping secrets. "HIIEE! Secret tunnels? How long have you been he—"

Kira's expression turned cold and she slammed a palm over his mouth. "Be careful, you never know who can overhear our conversation."

Tsuna nodded weakly in her grasp and when she released him he gasped for air.

"That's right Dame-Tsuna, you should be careful of what you say," the voice of Reborn came… from above Tsuna's head.

The teenage boy squeaked again and stumbled back, right onto the tail of a chihuahua, which began snarling menacingly at him. Kira merely stared and took a step back, unnerved by the animal, but in no way openly showed her fear as Tsuna demonstrated by panicking, trying to run away and landing on his face.

"It's okay Tsuna, it's only a small dog," Kira tried in vain to calm Tsuna and herself down a bit.

Reborn smirked and jumped from Tsuna's head, landing gracefully in front of the chihuahua. Tsuna stared in awe for a second as he easily calmed the dog down by petting it, but Kira's attention was focused on the girl peaking around the corner none so inconspicuously. She decided to not get involved and simply watched as the girl landed on her face before another girl ran up to Reborn.

_Hm, what's this?_

Tsuna just stared. And stared.

And goddamn it, why did he stare so much? There was nothing remarkable about her. The wires failed to connect in her head, and she just about had it. His unusual gravitation towards this girl was giving her a headache.

Reborn, being the lifesaver that he could be, answered her question, "Tsuna, you have a crush on that girl, don't you?"

_Oh…_

He then went on blabbering about how she was the idol of the school and whatnot before Kira saw the glint in Reborn's eyes. Uh-oh. She knew that glint too well.

Her eyes couldn't follow the bullet's path, and in a second Tsuna was up and running in his blue boxers, looking for Sasagawa Kyoko.

"We should leave now…"

* * *

><p>In the class of 1-A, Kira leaned on the window sill, observing the scene. Tsuna had almost landed on some guy, making him fly backwards and be caught by a baseball player before what she presumed to be confessing aggressively to Kyoko.<p>

He was rejected.

_Poor fool… if only he had confessed on his own…_

She was about to take out her phone to send another text when there was a tap on her shoulder. Kira looked up into the eyes of one of the girls that had been standing near the front of the room chatting with her friends.

"Can I help you?"

She fiddled with the ends of her hair and blushed before glancing up, stuttering the whole way. Kira felt instant irritation. What was with these people? Couldn't anyone form a sentence without stumbling over their tongue?

"Y-you're the new transfer student, right?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Kira sighed. She didn't really have any other choice than to deal with it. "Yes."

"W-what's your name?" she asked, voice louder and head raised higher.

_There you go._

"W-what I mean to say is—I'm Ishikawa Ame! It's nice to meet you…"

"Kizuna Kira."

Kira heard a collective sigh and resisted clenching her fists. What was wrong with the name she picked?

Ame just gave her a goofy smile—well, it was goofy in Kira's opinion as no one should look like that unless they were asking to be embarrassed. In fact, she felt the second-hand embarrassment coming on already. Kira cleared her throat to let Ame know that she had crossed a line and Ame's face went even redder than before.

She stuttered an apology for staring and quickly retreated to her circle of friends. They huddled together and began whispering furiously, but Kira didn't care for their discussion.

_Tsuna should be coming up soon._

However, when she turned to look out the window, she was met with the steely gaze of a certain skylark. Kira began waving to him as he was her first acquaintance in Japan. It died shortly after she realized he wasn't going to wave back, and instead her gaze found a half-naked Tsuna running for dear life whilst clutching his belongings.

"Kizuna-kun!"

Kira's ears twitched at the sound of her name. It wasn't a female's voice this time, meaning…

"Good morning, sensei," she greeted the pudgy man in his forties.

She noticed that he tried to look stern but was failing. The corners of his lips were tugged down but they twitched upwards slightly when she turned to face him, as if he was trying to prevent himself from smiling. "Good morning. Weren't you told to stay outside until I could introduce you to the class?"

_I do not want to deal with this guy today…_

Kira mustered her best apologetic smile and stood with her back straight. "I'm very sorry, sensei, but I was too excited and came in when I heard people already talking about me."

_Well that didn't come out self-centered…_

He seemed to mentally cave in and rubbed at his temples. Did he often have trouble handling his students? "Well, it's no big deal. Not everyone is here yet anyway." Just as he said that, the bell rang and everyone scrambled to their seats. "Oh," he started, "it won't hurt to formally introduce you. Come up to the front of the class please."

"Yes, sensei."

_I feel like such a… what do people call them? Teacher's kid? Child? Pet? Pet sounds right…_

But as they walked down the aisles of desks, the classroom began to grow in volume and in seconds students started to chatter among themselves. Kira stood left of the lectern as the teacher tried to get the class' attention by clearing his throat.

Nothing.

He cleared his throat again.

Still nothing.

Kira glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw that the teacher's ears were red with embarrassment at having so little control of his class. That vein better not pop… she didn't want blood to rain all over her.

With a surprisingly loud voice, the teacher boomed at the class and they shut up.

Hiding a cough behind a fist, he seemed much calmer now.

"Class, as you may know, we have a new student. His name is Kizuna Kira and was studying abroad in Italy but has returned to Japan on family business."

_Heh, major family business._

Kira's eye twitched as she noticed people were giving her weird looks. If it was because of her name again… _ I swear I'm going to strangle a cat by the end of the day._

"Kizuna, your seat is over there." He pointed to a window seat. Perfect.

A few minutes passed and there was still no sign of Tsuna. Kira began to get worried. Did Reborn do something to him?

Or was he just too embarrassed to show up and fled home?

She sighed.

_What are we going to do with you?_

Snapping out of her thoughts, a paper ball landed on her desk. She took it cautiously, hiding it from unwanted eyes and looked around for the person that threw it. It was the girl she spoke with earlier. Ishikawa Ame.

_Guess I should take a look._

Giving in, Kira unfolded the paper. In slanted and bubbly hiragana, it wrote:

_Kizuna-kun, I was wondering if you needed someone to show you around the school since you're new here._

_My friends and I would love to if you don't mind!_

_And maybe af_

The rest was scratched out.

Kira went over the options in her head.

If she said yes, she'd be forgoing her duties as supervisor to Tsuna and possibly put him in danger. Not to mention Reborn would lecture her for being irresponsible. However, she'd also gain access to information on the private lives of students that she may not be able to acquire without raising suspicion.

If she said no it could impact the character she was portraying, putting her in an unfavourable position. She didn't like to be disliked.

It's better to go the safer way…

_I'm sorry, but I already got a tour when I came in early this morning. Thank you for the offer though!_

She crumpled it into a ball and waited for the opportunity to throw it as the teacher turned his back.

The ball went sailing… and sailing… and landed _plop_, atop a napping boy's head. She cringed. Uh-oh.

"Huh?" he muttered blearily as he opened his eyes and yawned widely. The ball came tumbling down his face and he caught it with impressive reflexes, as if he practiced it. "What's this?"

"Yamamoto, what do you have in your hand?" the teacher demanded, a scowl on his face.

Yamamoto grinned and shrugged. "A crumpled up piece of paper?"

The class snickered as the teacher's face went red again. He wasn't very specific…

"What I mean is, why are you passing notes during class?" It was a rhetorical question; he wanted Yamamoto to apologize. "Care to share with the rest of us?"

_Oh god… this is all because of me and my lousy aim. No amount of Reborn's training will ever fix it._

Kira stood up and bowed slightly. "Please don't punish Yamamoto, sensei. The note is mine."

The class began whispering again and Kira looked up just in time to see the teacher's face relax.

He seemed to contemplate what to do but, "Since it's your first day here, I'll let it go. I don't know how things run in Italy, but please refrain from passing notes in the future."

"Yes, sensei."

She sat back down and immediately noticed that he didn't take the note from Yamamoto. Kira bit her lip, should she risk it? When she glanced at Yamamoto, he smiled brightly at her and held up the paper ball slightly, silently asking if he should pass it on. She nodded and mouthed _Ishikawa_ at him.

Her throw had put the note way off course, but Yamamoto passed the note in a much more stealthy and effective manner. This she noted and committed to memory as it could be highly beneficial in the future. He passed it to the desk right of his and like Kira, mouthed _Ishikawa_ to the boy and pointed at her. A nod of acknowledgement was given and in seconds the paper had reached its destination.

Kira tried to look away, but curiosity got the best of her and she watched as Ame's face fell. But to her surprise, the girl tucked the paper away before taking out another and scribbling something down frantically.

_Maybe she's taking notes…_

Then folded it neatly before sliding it to the girl left of her.

_And maybe not. Day one and I'm already breaking rules and receiving unwanted attention._ Wait, breaking rules? Her mind quickly backtracked to this morning and she remembered the message that Hibari Kyouya gave her: _"…If I find you breaking any rules I'll bite you to death."_

A small smirk found its way onto her lips. That was _if_ he caught her. They weren't even in the same class, so good luck with that.

A piece of paper with the words _To Kizuna-kun_ was written at the centre landed on her desk silently. This one read:

_That's fine. Do you want to have lunch together? Or maybe after sc_

She had scratched out the rest.

Again.

It subconsciously grated on Kira's nerves. The girl could barely make a coherent sentence while speaking and wasn't any better when writing.

It went on back and forth throughout the class. Ame would continuously try to get Kira to spend time with her and Kira would make an excuse every time to politely decline her invitations. What was with girls in Japan anyway? Why was she so persistent?

Then, out of sheer coincidence—Kira was sure—the teacher promptly left for a washroom break, and Tsuna appeared only half a minute later.

The little order in the class erupted as people began jeering at him about this morning's underwear confession, and Kira watched as people called him names and re-enacted scenes. She was about to go up and offer him some consolation when a familiar voice joined the crowd.

It was Ame's.

She seemed to be leading it as she and her friends taunted Tsuna so harshly that even the boys backed off and said maybe they should stop it.

However, they were only met with a biting snarl.

Kira didn't want to watch this anymore.

She expected Tsuna to receive some sort of name-calling, but this was out right harassment. It was really very disgraceful.

"Tsuna," she called as she stood up. Oddly enough, he seemed to be even more scared of her. Was she glaring? She tried to smile. "I've been wondering where you disappeared off to! Come here for a second will you?"

His face went from frightened to grateful instantly and quickly made his way to the side of Kira's desk. The class became quiet again as people whispered to each other about Kira's relationship to Tsuna.

Were they friends?

Why would someone like Kira hang out with someone like No-Good Tsuna?

And why was Ame glaring at Tsuna's head like that?

"Yes, Kira?"

Kira's fake smile dropped, but it was quickly replaced with a genuine grin. Tsuna was actually kind of cute when he was all nervous. "Hey. Did Reborn give you a hard time or something? What took you so long?" The last part was whispered. Ah, the whispering teenager syndrome must've snuck up on her.

"Well…"

"Sawada!"

"Hiie!"

Tsuna spun around so fast Kira swore he should have taken up ice skating or something.

"Get back to your seat."

"Y-yes, sensei!"

Kira puffed out her cheeks and drew down her eyebrows in frustration. She didn't want to wait till lunch—wait a minute, wasn't Tsuna supposed to have some sort of duel with some other guy during lunch? Mochida, was it?

_Uh-oh, I smell a dying will bullet._

* * *

><p>Kira stood with the rest of the students in the gym as they waited for the epic fight for Sasagawa Kyoko. She ignored the crowd as they were giving her a migraine and focused on the boy in the kendo outfit. He was smirking to himself, looking over-confident. To be honest, she felt a little sorry for him. He was just an arrogant teenage boy.<p>

And when Tsuna would inevitably go into Dying Will Mode… well, it won't be pretty.

She looked around and noticed that Hibari Kyouya was nowhere in sight.

_Wait, why am I checking? His threat is a joke…_

She scoffed at herself and pulled out her phone to send a text message:

_I'm about to see a boy become road-kill at the hands of Tsunayoshi in about three minutes. And yes, that is the name of the Tenth._

Ah, technology was always there to ease her boredom. And the private cellphone network ensured that all her calls and texts were secure.

Half a minute later she got a reply:

_Haha! As expected of Reborn. I just finished all my paperwork. Good timing._

_By the way, when do you want the rest of your stuff sent overseas? You said not to until you got a place to stay. So have you found one?_

Kira leaned against the walls, ignoring the stares and side glances she got.

_I'll probably get one by the end of today so send them over to Tsuna's house. I'll send you the address later. _

_I've got a kendo match to watch and laugh at._

She pocketed her phone just in time to see Hibari walk through the doors and lean on the wall opposite of hers before crossing his arms. She absentmindedly stared at him, and he stared back.

Ah, they made eye-contact.

Out of options, she decided to wave at him again.

He seemed to disregard her and pushed himself off the wall. Did he do that just because she was also leaning against a wall?

_Well it's not like it's going to kill you…_

"Ah, there he is!"

Kira narrowed her eyes. A shaky Tsuna stood at the door. There was no dying will flame. Reborn hadn't used the dying will bullet yet? Odd. But she knew he would sooner or later.

Tsuna and Mochida exchanged some words, but the line that caught Kira's attention was: "The prize of course is Sasagawa Kyoko!"

Cue epic anger.

_PUMMEL HIM TSUNAYOSHI. PUMMEL THE BASTARD INTO THE GROUND. I DON'T CARE IF YOU DO IT WHILE IN DYING WILL MODE._

Fireballs could have replaced her copper eyes.

Anyone who treated someone else as property with such a display of degradation was a disgrace to the human race.

_Obviously he doesn't know that women are not equivalent to slaves. This boy needs some common sense slapped into him. Or bombed. Either one works._

"Sawada-kun, do your best!"

The entire student population turned, shocked to hear that Kyoko was cheering _Tsuna_ on. Kira gave herself a proud smile. The girl had good taste.

_Wait a minute!_

Kira glanced around frantically for Reborn. He was supposed to be here by now. If he's going to shoot Tsuna with the dying will bullet, then… she looked at the balcony directly across from Tsuna, and there he was, Leon-rifle with a sniper scope.

It was over in a flash. Tsuna had ripped out all his hair, thus winning the match. Kira wanted to go congratulate him, but it seemed someone else beat her to it. Kyoko. Heh, good for him! _Go get her, Tsunayoshi!_

"Herbivore."

_Herbivore? Again, very odd. I'm not even a vegetarian._

Kira turned to see Hibari a mere four foot away from her. Strangely enough, the gym cleared out in what she assumed was not normal time. "Oh, hello Hibari. Can I help you?"

"Cellphone use is forbidden on school grounds. And also," he turned to look at the spot that Reborn occupied minutes ago. "What were you looking for so frantically?"

_If I tell him it was a baby he'll think I'm mad… but…_

"A baby you say?" He smirked, and Kira saw the tip of steel—probably a weapon—slide out of his sleeve.

_I said that out loud… well damn._

"Oh, um," she tried to avoid breaking eye contact, "I think it was a doll—or maybe I was seeing things. Flying usually makes me sick and to be honest I don't feel very well right now."

It was kind of true… Kira didn't enjoy flying, usually got raging headaches from them and she _didn't_ feel well under his scrutinizing gaze.

He didn't leave. "Take out your cellphone."

She really didn't want to, but the he had what looked like to be a steel tonfa out and damn it, she wasn't a fighter. Trying to look natural but also for a way out, she reached into her pants pocket and fished out her cellphone.

It was dead.

_Hell yeah!_

She played it cool as she showed him her phone, "I wasn't using it. See? It's been out of power since this morning. I have to get a power adapter before I can use it again."

His eyes narrowed at her before the tonfas, which appeared to be retractable, slid back into his sleeves. _At least I think that's where he keeps them…_

"You're off the hook this time, but," he glared hard at her. She didn't exactly feel scared… in fact, that expression was almost comforting in the way it reminded her of the people she was normally surrounded by. "The next time I see you I expect you to be fully rehearsed in Namimori's rules and regulations."

Kira blinked dumbly at him. "Eh, what are you talking about? It's not like I'm going to go on a rule-breaking spree. That's a waste of time."

In a sudden move so quick Kira could have sworn he was superhuman, Hibari held her left arm in front of her. "This."

Her tattoo stared at her.

"Oh. Are they not allowed?"

He dropped her arm and replied curtly. "All tattoos are to be covered up."

She subconsciously tugged the long sleeve down a bit as she had rolled it up before entering the gym; it was really hot outside. "Okay. I'll just never wear short sleeves in school."

He didn't give her another glance before stalking out of the gym.

Kira also turned around without glancing behind her or sparing him a second thought. Her undivided attention was diverted to a brooding Tsuna.

"What's wrong now?" she asked, exasperated.

"Ki-Kira-san—"

Kira, out of pure reflexes, cut him off, "Just Kira, Tsunayoshi."

"Right. Uh, well, you see, Kyoko-chan thought it was all a joke," he sobbed, covering his face in his hands.

"Ouch," Kira mumbled. "Well, that sucks, but hey! I bet you're on better terms now, eh?"

He stopped mid-sob and nodded before smiling a bit. "Yeah… and it was all thanks to Reborn."

She shared his feelings and nodded in agreement.

"He can be pretty life changing."

* * *

><p><strong>I have my last two exams tomorrow! After that I'll be free to do whatever~<strong>

Thank you to** BridgeofInsanity **and **Lucy Gore** for reviewing, it makes me really happy! And of course thank you to everyone who put this in their faves and alert list C:


	3. Like a Hacker

**Disclaimer: I still do not own KHR! Or will I ever…**

**My life has been hectic and tiring lately, but I know that's no excuse which is why I've given you this extra-long chapter! It's 14 pages on legal with moderate margins so be happy! oAo**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**Like a Hacker**

Kira's fingers twitched as she entered Tsuna's room. It was a pigsty and gave her the biggest urge to clean. _Resist, it's too inappropriate at this time! _She reprimanded herself. Reborn and Tsuna had arrived a few minutes before her as she had taken the liberty to see if that weird girl was still following Reborn.

She was.

"Eh? I'm the Vongola Tenth?" Tsuna recoiled at the news while Kira kicked a few magazines aside to make room for a place to sleep.

"Just a heads up for you, I'm going to set up my stuff," she called over her shoulder as she opened a suitcase and took a shiny black remote. It was decorated with various buttons of shapes, sizes and colours, and when Kira pressed a round yellow button a tent opened from her suitcase to cover a good portion of the right side of his room. "I'll fold it away in the morning."

"You can't just decide that!" Tsuna spluttered. "This is _my_ room!"

"That we are now sharing."

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn called and smacked him with a Leon-hammer, "did you hear anything I just said?"

Tsuna quickly apologized and tried not to scream when Reborn held a Leon-gun to his forehead and threatened to shoot if he ever ignored him again.

Kira on the other hand pulled out her power adapter and plugged her phone in, anxious to see if she got anymore messages. To ease the boredom she took out her laptop as well. _Wait a minute, I have homework…_ The teachers had given her more homework than the other students because they wanted her to catch up with the curriculum. She could just ignore it… but of course that would breed trouble, thus impeding her, something she did not want to deal with so… _I might as well do it so they have no complaints. Goodbye writing hand._

She finished everything within the next few hours and as expected, her left hand cramped. "I can't un-clutch my hand," she groaned and tried in vain to bend her fingers straight. "So… much… writing."

"K-Kira, you're done all that math?" Tsuna gaped in shock.

"Huh?" Kira sent a confused look as she tried to stack her books. "Oh, I finished everything else too. And what are you talking about? The math was simple… heh, irregular triangles and algebra, it doesn't stimulate my brain at all."

"Hah…" Tsuna stared at his math homework in despair. He hadn't even gotten past the first question. _Kira-san is so smart, I feel inferior just sitting here. And he finished not only finished math but all the homework for all our other subjects as well!_

Kira chuckled, having guessed what he was thinking. "Don't worry Tsunayoshi, Reborn will teach you well. I'd teach you myself, but unfortunately I'm very busy since I'm also working."

"You have a job?"

She paused in standing up and let out a low hum. Should she tell him…? No, Reborn would kick her for that. "All I can say is that it's for the Vongola. Anyway, good luck with your math. Just remember the Pythagorean theorem!"

She gave up trying to make her stack neat and opted to just throw everything in her bag. Tsuna muttered thanks and diverted his attention back to his math. It was almost 7PM and Kira had at least six hours of work ahead of her. The week before leaving for Japan she had ignored most of her programing duties in favour of learning Japanese and now it was biting her in the butt. And as exciting as it was to get back to work, Kira knew that she had to have it all done by tomorrow or she would be shipped back to Italy faster than you could say 'Give me another chance!'

This due-date was of course set for her by Reborn.

Sighing at the state of affairs she picked up her laptop, phone, and power adapter and headed to the basement. Tsuna had a nice house, but his basement was unfinished, and Kira could not be more thankful for this. She didn't have to worry about breaking anything, she could add all the electrical wiring and air conditioning she wanted, and it was big enough for her to test out small prototypes.

She would of course like to work in higher altitudes, but given the tiny space that was Tsuna's room, there was no way she could even stretch her legs once she hooked everything up.

_Let's get this over with._

* * *

><p><em>Bzzz…<em>

…

_Bzzz…_

…

_Bzzz…_

_What?_ There was something vibrating next to her ear, and Kira guessed it was probably her phone; she had received a text message. "Make that eight text messages… and at 6:30 in the morning? Someone hates me…"

_1. Hey, did you get the stuff yet?_

_2. Ooops, sorry if I woke you._

_3. Wait, what's Japan's time zone again?_

_4. Never mind, I'll just look it up._

_5. It's 7 hours ahead of Italy's, but you probably already know that—I should stop texting you._

_6. AsT%7?_

_7. Bkjiuos677 _

_8. Sorry about that, my phone was unlocked and yeah… sorry._

Feeling extremely tired from her all-nighter and the text messages, Kira buried her head into her arms and let out a moan of frustration. Why were her friends gifted with only half a brain? She rolled onto her back and began typing a reply:

_Sometimes I question why you're a mafia boss._

Wait—"I'm still in the basement," she noted out loud and yawned widely. Scratching her head and patting her hair into place, she pushed herself off the cold tiled floor and made a beeline for Tsuna's room. Her stuff couldn't have already arrived…

…

"Well, it's not the first time I've been proved wrong," she mumbled as she tried to navigate to Tsuna's bed through the throng of boxes stacked to the ceiling. It made her wonder who delivered it. _I can only think of Fedele, though he wouldn't do it unless I bitched at him._ Her caretaker, Fedele, hadn't even seen her off, and she left most of his chores to Dino, so maybe he had passed it back to Fedele? Eh, whatever. "What's done is done and what's important is that it's here!"

…

"Ah, who am I kidding, I want to know who did this." So she pulled out her phone again and continued her text.

_That would explain the boxes in front of me. By the way, who delivered these? I doubt it was Fedele._

She didn't expect a text back anytime soon as Dino probably pulled an all-nighter yesterday, evidence of his texting at 4AM.

"I better get this cleared out before Reborn wakes up and blows it all up or smashes it for shits and giggles."

She found Nana doing laundry in the front yard and almost cringed. Domestic work. Well, someone had to keep the house intact…

"Sawada-san."

Nana turned and gave her a smile so bright that would put the sun to shame and Kira could only chuckle nervously. "Kira-kun, you're up early! Tsuna always sleeps in."

"Ahaha, I can imagine," she laughed and tried not to fidget. "Actually Sawada-san, I have a favour to ask of you. Could I use your basement? It's for my job—I'm going to teach Tsuna about engineering and woodwork so it'd be really useful if—"

"—If you had a workshop, of course you can! The basement is unfinished so you don't have to worry about cleaning up, and do I remember Reborn-kun saying something about that," Nana said with an index finger held up to her cheek.

Kira's eyes lit up with a devious glint that she masked quickly. "Thank you very much Sawada-san."

"On one condition!" Nana had one hand on her hip and the other one in front of her as if she was going to scold Kira.

But Kira wasn't Tsuna and just asked, "What's that?"

"You musn't call me Sawada-san," she sighed, cupping her face and putting on a dramatic forlorn face, "it makes me feel so old, especially now that there are so many young faces in the house!"

Kira was relieved that was all she wanted. "You look young to me, Sawa—I mean, Mama. Is it okay if I call you that?"

Nana nodded. "Yes, of course. And thank you Kira-kun, I feel younger already!" she said with a happy stretch of her arms, making Kira chuckle for real. She had to admit, it was refreshing to be in Japan.

But it was still odd to call someone else other than her real mother Mama. She only called a few people by a family name, and despite being part of a famiglia, she felt that maybe, just maybe, she could get used to it.

"I'm going, I'm going!"

The sound of Tsuna's wails brought her out of her reverie, and Kira was most amused to see Tsuna carrying one of her bigger boxes, and was that Reborn behind him with a Leon-gun? He must have been woken up the Vongola way. _Too bad I missed it._

"Just think of this as muscle building."

Kira snickered as she passed him on the way up. His face…

"Why me…!"

She couldn't help but laugh at his distress. They always said that at first, but no one regretted meeting Reborn—well, the dead ones don't count, right?

She picked up a smaller box and moved some others near the door into the hallway. As if she could get out of manual labour with Reborn around. When everything was cleared out it was 7:45AM and both had sore arms.

Kira grumbled while massaging her forearm. "We'd better eat and get to school."

Tsuna agreed through a muffled sob with his face against the floor and limbs sprawled out on the hardwood. It turned out that Kira was a weakling with even less muscle mass than Tsuna so he had to carry almost everything when Kira just pushed boxes and carried the smallest ones by herself.

* * *

><p>Kira sat in silence at her window seat. There was a lot of chatter going on today about a new student.<p>

"His name is…"

"Gokudera Hayato," she whispered with wide eyes. No one seemed to notice and she found herself making eye contact with one of her customers.

"Gokudera-kun has also been studying abroad in Italy and was supposed to arrive with Kizuna-kun but it seems his plane was delayed…"

_It's okay, he doesn't know it's me. He's never even met me in real life so my persona is safe._

"Your seat is—Gokudera-kun!"

As she expected, he was rude and volatile. When lunch rolled around she followed him into the washroom. She needed information and she wanted it now.

"Gokudera Hayato, is it?"

"What's it to you?"

Kira shoved her hands in her pants pocket. "Just wanted to ask you something. As you know I also recently came to Japan from Italy, and I was wondering what made you come back, you know, since it's just us outsiders."

"Heh, none of your business."

She frowned. _It's okay, I know how to make him talk._ "Hey, what's that on your belt—oh my god—is that dyna—"

"Family business, happy?"

"Huh?" she faked confusion.

Gokudera snarled at her, a feat Kira almost wanted to clap for. "I said I'm here on family business, can't you hear right?"

"Oh, that's nice," she smiled at getting the information she wanted, "Guess I'll see you later."

As she turned she caught a glimpse of relief flash across his face. So he was after the Vongola after all. She had to confirm her suspicion, and lo' and behold, she was right. _I should warn Tsuna before he gets himself blown up._

Using pure memory, Kira navigated herself to the gym, passing one of the hideouts on the way there. She was pleased to see that Tsuna was in shock that she had told the truth about her scouting duties.

_Which reminds me, I haven't recalled my nanobots yet. I'll have to remember to bring a jar with me tomorrow._

Sitting on the ground of the gym, Kira dully noted that Hibari Kyouya was across from her like yesterday. He seemed to be talking to the teacher, but that was none of her business…. Actually, it was. This morning Reborn told her she was to keep profiles on everyone that Tsuna came into contact with and scout for potential subordinates. So far she had considered Yamamoto Takeshi. He seemed to be popular and was very athletic as well as kind and loyal, very hard traits to find in the mafia. _One subordinate isn't a famiglia though._

Her eyes raked the growing crowd for any diamonds in the rough but found only average teenagers that didn't understand the weight and honour of being in the mafia. _Wonder how he got in_. She noticed Gokudera was on Tsuna's team and mildly wondered why an opponent of Tsuna was on his team. But then again, he could have ulterior motives—ah, _I'm reading too far into this._

Then, to her ear's dismay, the gym erupted into frenzy when Tsuna walked through the doors. Taking into account the way he walked and the look on his face, Kira concluded he was dying to wiggle out of this despite being the one who accepted the offer to play volleyball so willingly. _No way in hell is Reborn going to let that happen._

And everything ended as it should, but Kira's stomach was still hurting from laughing at Tsuna using his groin to block the ball. It was too funny; she'd apologize later.

"Tsu-Tsunayoshi!" she called out through her muffled laughter and not to mention in a much better mood. He was hunched over, surrounded by his team and receiving claps on the back for helping them win the match. "Congratulations on the win!"

"Kira-san! Thank you!"

Kira covered her mouth with her fist as she tried to suppress the last bit of giggles. "Ahhh~ Tsunayoshi, how many times do I have to tell you to just call me Kira? We're around the same age and we're friends, aren't we?"

Tsuna still looked overwhelmed by all the commotion, but Kira saw that he was still happy. Probably happier than he'd been in a while. "Kira then…"

"There isn't much time left in lunch so I'm going to go pick something up."

"Eh?" Tsuna blinked. "You mean at my house?"

Kira scratched at her cheek with her index finger. "Yeah," she leaned in to whisper, "don't tell anyone but I can drive so it'll be quick. Okay?"

Tsuna made an 'eeek!' sound but otherwise didn't reveal anything. "But what if you get caught…"

Kira laughed and clapped him on the back too—this teenager thing was really getting to her—before she remembered what happened less than twenty minutes ago. Gokudera Hayato was messing with the Vongola. "Actually, I'll leave that for later. We've got other problems to deal with. Come with me."

Kira didn't miss the look Gokudera sent them and she tried to pry Tsuna away from the athletes trying to get him to join various sports clubs. The one that stood out most was from this guy that screamed something about the boxing club and extreme bear wrestling. Kira marked him off as insane.

She finally got him to the second floor hallway and explained the situation to him, but to her dismay he didn't believe her despite seeing the tunnels with his own eyes within the same hour. The main point of his ranting was that there was no way in hell Mafiosi were after him since no one ever wanted him. She understood this and respected his opinion but it was only a matter of time before he had to face Gokudera.

_Not to mention it also makes my job of convincing him of his destiny even harder._ No doubt with this in mind Reborn would have no mercy on him, confident that Kira would make sure he doesn't run away.

"Then I'm sorry you're going to learn this the hard way." She pushed him back to the first floor and out a side-door and then shut and locked it with a remote.

"Did you just…?"

"You've got other things to worry about," she interrupted, ignoring his pleas to be released from her iron grip. "Now go." To emphasize her words she kicked him in the back the way Reborn taught her to and peeked around the corner just in time to see Tsuna get up awkwardly in front of Gokudera.

"S-sorry!"

_He's such a pushover. Come on, mention the Vongola!_

Kira had to stop herself several times from rushing in and joining the party. It was really exciting to see her creations being used in real life combat and she almost regretted that they were being used against Tsuna. Almost.

Tsuna effectively extinguished all of Gokudera's dynamite with the help of Reborn. But the important thing was that Tsuna gained a subordinate and she no longer had to hide.

"Tsunayoshi, good job!" Kira grinned and waved from a few feet away. "Nice to have you on the team, Hayato!"

Gokudera made no effort to hide his displeasure at being called his first name and Kira didn't miss the movement of his arm reaching for a stick of dynamite. She mentally snickered to herself; she knew how to handle this… "Tsunayoshi, please don't let Hayato blow me up!"

"G-Gokudera-kun?"

Kira grabbed his arm and showed him the two sticks of dynamite, causing Tsuna to squeal and flap his arms around, ranting that the dynamite be put away and how he shouldn't hurt Kira.

Score one for the crossdresser.

"Oh look, there's the third year bullies who constantly pick on Tsunayoshi!" Kira exclaimed, pointing at the three gangsters about to be burnt.

"What?" This got his attention as he took out even more dynamite. "Tenth, let me handle this."

"HIEEE! No, Gokudera-kun! Please stop!"

_Heh heh... Hmmm, what's that sound?_

"I believe people are trying to get out since you locked that door," Reborn's voice echoed beside her left… he was sitting on her shoulder. When did he get there?

"I should unlock it."

"That may be wise."

Kira pushed the release button for the door locks and the sound of bodies toppling to the dirt alerted her that whoever was behind those doors was an idiot. But as she took a glance, she cursed and noted that it was not a wise decision to unlock the door. Disciplinary Committee members were slowly getting to their feet and dusting off their uniforms. They were no doubt sent to check up on the noise.

_Well shit, as if the damage to the school wasn't enough of a hint already._

"Guys, we have to go," she slung her arms around Tsuna and Gokudera's necks and whispered harshly. "People are coming and it'd be a real hassle to clean up the bodies."

Tsuna agreed immediately and Gokudera didn't argue with him. They were out in seconds after escaping into one of the tunnels a few meters away. Kira navigated them safely to the roof and let out a breath of relief when they surfaced. Keeping them out of trouble was hard when they practically screamed to be discovered. And why was it that everywhere she went the Disciplinary Committee followed? Damn it, she was supposed to be the one doing the stalking!

_Eh, whatever. It was all in all a successful day._

The next few days were spent with Tsuna waking up late, Gokudera causing the teachers to burn and Kira not getting enough sleep. Ever since she logged onto her email they were filled with orders for weapons as well as programming. She desperately wanted to smash her forehead on something hard.

_And Dino still hasn't texted me back yet… the phone I made him can receive signals anywhere so he must be on another case…_

So despite her efforts, staying awake during class was just too much of a bother and she didn't feel guilty now that Gokudera was watching over Tsuna with hawk-like eyes. Thus she took every chance to get some shut eye, including testing time. In fact, the teacher was handing them back now.

"Kawada?"

"Here."

"Kurihara?"

"Here."

"Kondo?"

"Here."

"Kizuna?"

…

"Kizuna?"

Nezu glared at the lop of blonde hair near the windows. "Hypothetically speaking, there is a student who constantly sleeps during class. This is the type of student…"

"Hey Kizuna," a hushed voice called from behind her. When she didn't move, the boy poked her in the back with a pencil. This stirred her from her slumber and she turned her head slightly in her folded arms to send him a one-eyed questioning look. "Nezu is handing back our last science test and it's your turn."

"Oh…" she rubbed her eyes groggily and yawned widely. Getting rid of the last bit of sleep from her eyes, she slowly noticed that the entire class was staring at her. She also spotted a pile on Nezu's desk and got up to retrieve her test. "I'm not getting much sleep these days. That's my test, right?"

"Class," Nezu started as he swiped the test from the pile and handed it to Kira, "this is the perfect example of a dumb blonde."

Some snickered, but it quickly died when Kira showed no signs of embarrassment. Her head was still held high with her poker face intact. When she reached her seat some eyes still lingered, wondering about her lack of reaction when she began folding her test into a paper plane. Hey, it had to serve some sort of purpose, right?

"What's he doing?"

"Doesn't he need that to study?"

"Maybe Nezu was right…"

"Yeah, maybe he _is_ a dumb blonde."

The boy from before poked her in the shoulder this time, "Hey Kizuna, what did you get? It sounds like you got a bad mark."

Kira paused, not to answer the boy—Kawada, was it?—but Tsuna's name was called. Her eyebrows furrowed when Nezu began singling him out as well. _Stand up for yourself! I know this is school but you can't let him do this to you. Ah! Here comes Hayato, perfect timing._

Nezu got a glint in his eye as Gokudera strutted in high and mighty.

"Good morning Tenth!"

"Hypothetically speaking, there is a student who carelessly comes to class late and without question hangs out with the two loser trash because like-people gravitate towards each other." He stared at Tsuna and Kira as he gave his little speech and everyone knew who he was talking about.

Kira sat watching happily as Gokudera snapped. "Old man… I may not care what you say about Kizuna, but I won't forgive anyone that insults the Tenth!"

_Gee, thanks,_ Kira chuckled quietly.

"Tenth, should I drop this guy?"

* * *

><p>"You're all expelled!"<p>

Kira had her hands in her pants pocket with her thumbs out as she ignored Nezu's ranting. Even if they were expelled she could easily tamper with the system to get them readmitted and blackmail or threaten the principal.

"You cheated!" Nezu screamed, effectively jolting Kira from her sleep induced state.

"Who cheated what?" she mumbled.

"There's no way that students who are always late and sleep in class could have scored 100 points!" Nezu kept roaring and raging. "SEE? That blonde one just woke up! AGAIN!"

Kira scratched at her right wrist. It'd be hard to explain how she got her score… so he just assumed they cheated?

"Che," Gokudera made an unimpressed sound. "As if we'd do something that stupid."

Kira nodded. "I agree."

"I don't believe they cheated either!" Tsuna said with a hint of desperation in his voice.

The principal seemed to be on their side. "Yes, do you have any proof that they cheated?"

Nezu was even more enraged than before. "I have all the evidence I need! These two no good delinquents had to have cheated to get this kind of mark! There's no other explanation!"

_We could just be smart._

Kira began zoning out again but she still heard everything that was being said. _Rest… I need rest…_

"Kyoko-chan!"

…

"Well, because such a lovely lady such as Sasagawa is asking for help…"

…

"Let's go Kira," Tsuna reluctantly tugged on her sleeve.

"Huh? Okay…" Having fallen half asleep, Kira absentmindedly followed Tsuna. She didn't notice how he was freaking out or how Gokudera had snuck away. For the rest of the day Kira slept. In fact, it had to hit her in the head like a Leon-hammer before she woke up. "W-what?"

_Had she followed Tsuna while half-asleep?_

"Kira, are you okay? You've been sleeping all day for the past few days," Tsuna asked with concern evident in his voice.

Kira just ruffled his hair and smirked when he squeaked. "Don't worry about me. I can take of myself."

Tsuna's eyes turned downcast a bit and Kira realized she made it sound like she was scolding him. "I know, but it's just that even though you get good marks you're still being yelled at. Gokudera-kun too…"

"Tenth!"

"Speak of the devil."

Gokudera's face was uncharacteristically happy and Kira found herself half in awe and half in horror. "Let's get to studying and make Nezu eat his words!"

_Hm, what?_ Kira rewinded her memory to two hours earlier and replayed the scene in her head, paying attention this time. "So Nezu called us cheaters and said that if we can coach Tsunayoshi to pass a retest then we're cleared?"

Gokudera's mood did a 180 degree turn and he huffed, poking her in the forehead. "How would you know? You were completely out of it and made us look bad!"

She swatted his hand away. "Yeah yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, I'm busy so I can't help you study. Sorry Tsunayoshi," she apologized. "But since Hayato here also got 100 points I'm sure that'll be enough."

Gokudera made more snarky remarks as she turned to get her bag and most of it was about her calling him by his first name. Tsuna had to hold him back from strangling her.

_Geez, it's just a name. And besides, I'm used to calling people by their first name, especially if they're my age._

For the remainder of the night, Kira went over her orders thrice and began with the oldest orders. After a few hours into her work her phone buzzed. _Ah, so he's got free time now._

_It was personally delivered by a friend of mine. Anyway, how are you?_

She didn't press any further on who this friend was. If Dino wanted to tell her then he would have told her; prying would do her no good.

_Working. There's a mountain of orders and between this ridiculous thing called school and work I want to kill myself. There's also some pretty troublesome people…_

She tossed off her gloves and began engaging in a texting conversation with Dino. It was afternoon where he was so she didn't have to worry about keeping him up. This was also a welcome break.

She told him about what happened in the last few days, Gokudera, all the annoying people at school, the Disciplinary Committee and why they almost got expelled.

Dino mostly laughed.

_It's not funny… how am I supposed to explain that I have a microchip in my brain?_

…

_Bzz—_

_Tell them you ate it and now you're a cyborg?_

Kira snorted.

_Very funny._

Dino said he had more paperwork to do now that his case was finished and Kira reluctantly got back to work.

* * *

><p>Tsuna failed the retest.<p>

* * *

><p>"We're going to dig up that time capsule and you better not hold back the Tenth!" Gokudera growled.<p>

The fire extinguisher compartment was open and Gokudera was smoothing out some wrinkles in his clothes. Oh, so he was using her tunnels. "And pray tell, how would I hold him back?" She deadpanned. "It's not like I want to go through the trouble of getting us readmitted to school."

Gokudera poked her in the bicep none too softly. "You're all bone and skin!" he pointed out. "I bet you can't even shovel for more than two minutes before you start whining."

Kira frowned. "I admit, I'm not made for physical labour—"

"I knew it," he said smugly with his arms crossed.

"—_but_, I have other ways to help out so I'll meet you later. Have fun digging."

Her suspicions from earlier came back at full force and Kira hoped she was right. The shock on Nezu's face when he saw her test and Gokudera's test; why was it there? If he had such low opinion of them and two of the three students he hated the most got perfect scores, why didn't he remember? After all, he was the teacher…

_But being the teacher doesn't necessarily mean he marked the tests. Did he even write the tests?_

"Let's go Tenth, that guy is obviously useless."

Tsuna did a double-take. "Are you sure, Kira? Nezu might still want to expel you if he doesn't see you out there as well."

She gave him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "Don't worry, if it's there, it won't take long."

School had ended half an hour ago but they only got out now because of cleaning duties bequeathed upon them by Nezu. Kira was going to get as much information on Nezu as possible. Something was off and if there was a dent in his record she'd find it.

First things first, she had to get her laptop, hack into the school's private Wi-Fi and connect her laptop to a printer.

A few minutes later, she got in and had her laptop all hooked up with her USB that contained all her hacking programs. It was so much more convenient this way.

It was much easier to find his information than she'd expected. But then again, once she read it all, she realized why it was so easy. The guy was a complete moron. He may have covered his tracks but hacking into records and uncovering his tampering was cake-walk. And Kira wasn't in the same league as him so she could actually cover her hacking trails the _right_ way.

She carried her laptop to the library and printed out all the evidence. Now that her work was done she could check up on Tsuna and Gokudera. Lucky enough for her, the window of the library faced the school grounds. There were several holes in the ground, but no time capsule.

"Kyoko?" Kira grinned to herself silly as she saw Kyoko still swinging a pick axe when Gokudera and Tsuna were sitting on the ground. "She's a sweet girl."

"Did you find anything?"

Kira nearly jumped out of her skin when Reborn popped up. Willing her heart rate to return to normal, Kira nodded. "Yes. It turns out Nezu is a fraud."

Reborn looked over the papers and grinned in satisfaction. "Good job. Now come with me."

Kira tucked away her belongings and followed Reborn to a roof, but this was a different one than the roof she, Tsuna and Gokudera ate lunch together on. There was also a person sitting up there. Going by the arm band, it was—

"Hibari Kyouya."

Said prefect turned his attention towards them. "It's you two again."

Kira waved to him, but once again, he didn't return the greeting.

Reborn hopped up to the same platform, leaving Kira to find a ladder or something. "I just came to tell you that the school grounds are going to get a bit messier than it already is."

Hibari simply stared ahead. "As long as it is returned to normal by tomorrow it's fine with me."

"Thanks," Reborn said, shocking Kira a bit. It was extremely rare to hear Reborn give his thanks. What kind of person did Reborn see Hibari as that Kira couldn't? "And Kira has something to tell you as well."

"Reborn, hold on."

"He's gone."

Kira climbed up to the sight of Hibari leaning back on his palms watching the spectacle. "Oh."

Kira took a seat beside Hibari and he finally looked at her. "The baby said you had something to tell me."

_I do? It's probably about Nezu's records…_

"Right, it's about one of the teachers here. Nezu's a fraud."

Hibari's eyes narrowed at her. "A fraud? You better have some evidence."

The unspoken _or else I'll bite you to death_ hung in the air.

Kira held her hand up, still tired from climbing, to signal to wait a minute. She pulled her bag onto her lap and gave him the first page. "Here. This guy faked all his papers. That's a record of his exam marks from a mediocre college. And this," she pulled out another page, "is the records that the school board has on him. He's a fake."

Hibari's eyes scanned the pages and although he hid it, Kira could sense the anger building. "Let me see the other pages."

Kira handed it over wordlessly. The faster the better. She sighed in boredom and glanced around. _Ah, they found it! At least I hope that's the right time capsule. Eh, either way it doesn't matter since Nezu's going to be gone soon._

Hibari seemed to become even more upset and Kira vaguely wondered why. It's not like he and Nezu had any problems with each other from her research and it didn't make sense for a student to become so agitated over a teacher's false papers. Shock, yes, but this unadulterated anger?

"You seem angry," she stated plainly. Glaring blue met curious copper. "Want to talk about it?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again the anger was gone. It was replaced by a strange feeling. One of blood thirst and joy. "I am not angry, herbivore."

"Then…?"

"I'm amused," he smirked. "Now I have someone to bite to death."

She didn't know about killing people with teeth but… "Okay. Well, it's good that you're happy. But can I have the papers back now? Tsunayoshi already found the time capsule and I need to show this to the principal…"

But Hibari seemed reluctant to give them back. He looked at her suspiciously. "First tell me how you got a hold of these."

Kira gulped. "Pardon?"

The aura around him became hostile again and Kira began creating an elaborate lie in her head when it hit her—Reborn saying thanks and telling him that she had something to tell him—could he be planning on recruiting Hibari? _GAH! I can't lie since he'd just find out…_

"Do you take me for a fool? I have people who do annual checks on all Namimori staff and his papers have been authenticated. So tell me, how did you get a hold of these?"

If looks could tie chains around your limbs and lock you in place, Hibari's glare did that.

"Heh heh… well then they must not be very talented hackers, eh?" she chuckled nervously. "I hacked into his original records ten minutes ago."

To both their shock, Hibari's eyes widened a bit. Then, it was replaced with a scowl and a tonfa was an inch away from her neck. "Come to the reception room tomorrow at lunch and we'll see if you're lying or not. I'm keeping these for now." The tonfa disappeared into his sleeve and Kira's eyes followed him as he got up. "If you are then you will be bitten to death. Run away and the result will be the same."

Then he was gone.

Kira blinked and then pouted. He took the papers… she wanted to show off to Tsuna and Gokudera to show them how useful she actually was… _I still have the pages saved so it's okay I guess. Time to store it into my records._

* * *

><p>The next day came too quickly and Kira was riddled with feelings of anxiety. She pulled an all-nighter so there were dark circles under her eyes and today was extra hot so she really wanted to roll up her sleeves, but the prefect's threat prevented her from doing so.<p>

"You smell like sunscreen."

"Huh?" She looked up to see Kawada pinching his nose. "I burn easily." She shrugged. Wait, he sat behind her, and now he was unpacking a bento and sitting in the middle of the class with his friends, which meant it was lunch.

_Time to face Hibari already, huh? Life sure doesn't give you any breaks._

"Kira!" a bright voice called from the door. "Come on, let's go eat!"

Tsuna waved to her from the door, all smiles. Seeing him smile made her smile and she cursed smiling for being so contagious but waved back nonetheless. "I'll meet you there in a bit! Got something to take care of."

But there something else also bothered her. Ame had sent a look to Tsuna when he called her to have lunch. Tucking this piece of information away, Kira shouldered her bag and set off to face the beast. She met a few Disciplinary Committee members on the way there and they seemed confident that whatever Hibari had planned for her, she was going to fail.

_Please don't be a test of physical capabilities._

Standing in front of the door, Kira knocked three times loudly. "Kyouya, you there? I'm coming in."

The room was empty save for the prefect himself. There were papers sprawled across his desk and he was burning a hole into the hardwood with his eyes. When they made eye contact Kira swore she felt her blood turn cold. "What did you just call me?"

"Urg." She fidgeted with the end of her sleeve, scratched at her right wrist and walked to the table and sofas. "Isn't that your name?"

"I meant," he said lowly as he stood up and strode over to her, "why are you calling me by my first name?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, is it offensive? I'm used to calling people by their first names since I come from Italy, and I think Kyouya suits you."

_That's right, fling out the compliments so please don't beat my face. I can't operate on myself!_

Kira waited impatiently as he seemed to ponder her words. Then—"Whatever. Call me whatever you want, I don't care."

_I guess that translates to something like "I guess it's okay if you call me that"?_

"Kyouya then."

He returned to his desk and picked something off the floor. It was a rectangular black bag. "There's a laptop in here. I want you to follow the instructions and hack into certain websites. If you can do it before lunch ends then I'll let you go."

She nodded and held back a relieved sigh. That's all she had to do? Thank god it was something easy. She took out the laptop and hooked up the power before plugging two USBs in. Hibari sat behind the wooden desk and eyed her every move. Clearly she was supposed to do it here so she couldn't cheat her way out.

"Am I allowed to use my own tools?"

Hibari shrugged. "Go ahead."

When it booted, there was a single icon on the screen labelled "INSTRUCTIONS". She went through the files quickly and looked at all the websites she had to hack into. There were twenty in total. For a normal person this would have been overkill, even for a day's work, but not Kira.

She checked the laptop's specifications and cursed. It was average. There was no way she could hack all twenty at once. Her programs used an enormous amount of memory and running more than three instances of it would cause it to crash.

Her eye twitched.

"Um…"

"What?"

"Can I use my laptop instead?"

This time, Hibari narrowed his eyes at her. "No."

She puffed out her cheeks and pouted at the screen. _Fine, be that way then._ She went over the addresses listed and noted that she had hacked into a few of them before. _But it was so long ago… the entire structure changed so it's pointless. I'll have to start from scratch._

Knowing exactly what to do, she typed furiously and ran two of them through the program. Letting out a bored sigh, she flopped back against the sofa material. It was so nice… if she could just close her eyes and get a bit of shut eye…

"Giving up already?"

Kira turned her head to Hibari. "Huh? Oh. I'm not giving up of course. Just waiting."

A beep alerted her that the process was done and she had control of the first two websites. _Great, two down, eighteen to go._ The process went on and on when twenty-three minutes later she had all twenty websites under her control. Step three of the instructions stated: Somewhere on the website, write very clearly _You have just been hacked_.

She didn't want it to be blatantly obvious to anyone who stumbled upon the website so she inserted it in every Contact Us page and held out the laptop to Hibari. "It's done."

"Wow," he said with a slight smirk, as if he was the one benefiting from this. "You're in."

Kira made a surprised sound, the words catching her off guard. "Pardon? What am I in?" _Don't tell me he put me on the geek squad… I don't have time for this,_ she whined in her head. _As if work wasn't already killing me._

"Congratulations, herbivore," he pulled out a plastic bag from a drawer. "Looks like you're useful after all."

"What?" she asked more to herself than him. He just tossed the bag to her and she caught it with a slight stumble. Tentatively opening it, she gawked as an arm band and black uniform came out. She gestured to herself with her jaw slightly ajar. "Me? A-apart of—"

Hibari seemed even more amused with her stuttering. "Yes. It's more convenient for me to have someone at my beck and call to investigate and fix any technological problems than call up those other inferior herbivores."

_Ahhh… so that's why._

"Eh, but I have a job so I'm not sure if I can come at your _beck and call_," she almost choked out. This was the first time someone other than Reborn made her feel so small and weak. "Also, I'm not very strong."

However, he didn't seem affected at all. "I know you aren't. Come here tomorrow at lunch too." Kira blinked. "The baby asked me for a favour," he grinned to himself. "Despite being part of my committee, I will bite you to death if you do not come."

Kira smiled slightly. So this was Reborn's doing. She had better go then. _I would go if you just asked me. No need for threats._

"Is that so?"

"Eh?"

Hibari leaned on his fist, smirking at her again. "That you'd come if I just said so?"

_Ah damn, I said that out loud again._ She composed herself and stood a bit straighter. "Well, if you asked, but yes."

She hesitated in going to put the uniform and arm band in her bag when a question hit her. She bit her lip and glanced at Hibari, made eye contact, and looked back down immediately.

"You have questions." It was more of a demand to spill it before he lost his patience.

"Do I have to wear this to school? Like, all the time?" she with reluctance, making it clear that she really didn't want to.

"Yes."

She frowned and began subconsciously pouting. "Can't you make an exception?"

His good mood seemed to die slightly and he glared at her. "No exceptions."

She sighed and pulled out her USBs and pocketing them. "Please?"

"Do you not want to be recognized as a member of my committee?" There was hidden venom in his voice, and Kira knew that if she insulted it at all she'd be in for a world of pain. Honestly, she didn't care about his committee but didn't hate it either.

"I don't have anything against your committee, Kyouya," she said while looking him in the eye. "Rather, it would bring me and possibly you trouble because of my weak disposition. I swear I'm not trying to run away," she smiled, hoping that it came out sincere.

He gritted his teeth together and turned his head away from her, making her dread ever opening her mouth. But then what she heard next made her replay it in her head over a few times to make sure she heard it right.

"Fine. I'll make an exception this time."

Her face lit up and she flashed him a toothy grin. "Thank you, Kyouya."

He didn't reply and just shot her an unreadable look. Kira dubbed it as, 'You're welcome.'

She left with a happy grin plastered on her face as if she just achieved something great. _But in a way, I did. I don't think he's the type of person to give in that easily,_ she hummed. _But not completely unreasonable either. I think we can get along if I play my cards right._

"Whatever Reborn has planned for me, bring it on!"

* * *

><p>I want to thank everyone that faved this and <strong>Lucy Gore<strong>_**, **_**Psychotic Tendency **and** novellanite12** for reviewing!

Your support means a lot to me, so thank you very much! I hope I can continue to meet your expectations.

**PLEASE READ! IMPORTANT: **Also, my take on Hibari is that he doesn't hate talking since he actually speaks a normal amount of words and doesn't seem to mind holding conversations (after rereading and rewatching many episodes). Also, he seems to make many exceptions and break many of his rules when it concerns Reborn, so because Kira is associated with Reborn and hasn't defied or insulted him or Namimori, he's more lenient with her. Hope that clears up any thoughts on his behaviour.

Also, if you find any errors in spelling or grammar, please tell me and I will fix it immediately!


	4. Sleepy Days

**Disclaimer: KHR is forever out of my reach.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**Sleepy Days**

"You're what?" Tsuna choked on his water.

Kira blinked in confusion. "Is that a bad thing?"

There was barely ten minutes left in lunch when Kira broke the news to Tsuna and Gokudera, making Tsuna panicky and Gokudera angry for _instilling_ _negative_ _feelings_ in his boss. Tsuna then went on to explaining what the Disciplinary Committee did and what kind of person Hibari was. Most of the information corresponded with Kira's research, except his personality. She didn't know him long enough to come to a conclusion, and as far as she knew he wasn't as bad as Tsuna made him out to be. _We'll have to wait and see._

"You better not bring the Tenth any trouble because of this Hibari guy!" Gokudera exhaled some smoke from his cigarette, making Kira cover her mouth and nose in disdain. She saw no logical reason to smoke. It was a waste of money, time and breathing.

"If anyone's going to bring any trouble it'll be Reborn."

For an unfathomable reason, Gokudera bristled with anger. "Okay, that's it! Why do you talk like you know Reborn? You shouldn't even exist."

Tsuna nibbled on his lunched nervously as he thought about interfering, but then decided that he shouldn't get involved.

Kira almost flinched at his tone. It was so loud and the sun was burning them alive—or at least her—"I'm Reborn's assistant, and I have been for a long time."

Gokudera stood up and spat out the cigarette bud off the roof. "You can't lie to me. I did a search on his assistant and she's been missing for years."

Kira leaned back on her hands, head turned away from them. "Where'd you look? The amateur's database?"

"Why you little—"

Gokudera made a move to grab Kira by the collar and Tsuna got up as fast as he could, but in his haste forgot to put his lunch aside, and thus spilled rice all over his lap. However, he didn't seem to notice as he held back Gokudera who was just inches away from Kira's face. "Gokudera-kun, Kira, please stop it!"

"Tenth, we have a liar in the family and I won't tolerate that!"

Kira became more agitated by the second. Yes, she was using a persona, but for the love of all that was holy, she was no traitor. "What are you saying, Hayato? That I'm a liability? A traitor?"

"If you aren't then why don't you tell us who you really are?"

She sighed. "I already did. I'm Reborn's assistant, so if you're as smart as I thought you were then why don't you do your research properly this time." She smiled in her head as Gokudera's hands clutched at his side, knuckles white and nails digging in. It seemed that questioning his intellect did more damage than she thought. _Good. I'll see if you're worthy soon enough._

"By the way…"

"What?" he snarled.

"You have until tomorrow to give me an answer. The deadline is midnight," she informed him with a cheeky grin.

He rolled his eyes. "And what if I say no?"

"Then you're out of the family."

Two teens jumped out of their skins at Reborn's sudden appearance. Kira waved at him. "Yo."

"You heard him, Gokudera. Discover Kira's true identity—if he has one—by midnight tomorrow and you get to stay in Tsuna's family."

"But Reborn-san," Gokudera blanched, "you can't be serious!"

"You said it yourself, didn't you? There should be no liars among the family, but Kira obviously won't tell you so it's up to you to figure it out."

Kira watched in amusement while Tsuna stared in shock. Gokudera looked like he was about to positively explode. Then, surprising all but one, he took off.

"Gokudera-kun! Where are you going?" Tsuna shouted, startled. He moved to get up and chase him but Kira held out her arms and pulled him back.

"Don't," she breathed. Her voice came out in a whisper but was laced with a mix of authority and warning.

"K-Kira?"

"Yes?" She released him and smiled, all traces of the malice gone. Tsuna gulped and shook his head.

"N-nothing. Never mind…"

The bell signalled the end of lunch and the beginning of gym class, or as Kira liked to call it, a nuisance. She didn't participate of course. It was dangerous for her to change in the boy's locker room, but there were bathroom stalls in there so it wasn't completely out of the question.

"What are we playing today?"

The boy next to her scoffed and turned to her. "Are you actually going to play?"

Kira made an 'e_hhh'_ sound and pretended to consider his words. "Nope."

He exhaled heavily and looked like he was ready to throw his hands up in frustration. "Come on Kizuna! No one's seen you play so we don't even know if you're good at sports or not!"

"Heh heh…" Her lips pulled into a crooked smirk. "It's not that I can't play…"

"Then why not?"

"Look," she said as she gestured to the bags under her eyes. "I'm too tired to do anything but sit."

He started to say something but a sharp whistle cut him off. "Alright, stop the chatter and begin picking teams for baseball! Team captain's pick. Yamamoto, you're captain of team A and Kenshiro will be captain of team B. Come on, split up!"

The boy she had been talking to had apparently been Kenshiro and he immediately grabbed her by the bicep. "I pick Kizuna!" Then, much quieter he whispered to her, "You better play…"

The threat didn't faze her and she drawled out, "Uh huuuh…"

"Seriously Kizuna, beating Yamamoto isn't easy."

_I know. I've been keeping an eye on Yamamoto and today is perfect to assess his skills._

It came to the last pick and Tsuna stood in the middle awkwardly trying to turn invisible.

"I'm not going to take him, you take him."

"Don't be stupid, we don't want that loser on our team. Besides, shouldn't you take him since you already have Yamamoto? It'll balance things out."

"Looks who's talking! You got Kizuna, and for all we know he might be your ace!"

_Not really…_

"Guys, calm down! Sawada!" Tsuna looked up at Yamamoto calling him. "Why don't you join our team?"

His teammates blanched. "EHHH? Yamamoto, you can't be serious!"

Kira gave herself a secret smile. Yamamoto was a nice guy after all. _For some reason I feel proud._

"Hold on a second…" a boy from the other team started counting with his eyes narrowed, suspicious. "How come you guys have one extra person? That's not fair!"

_Perfect!_

"I'll be the catcher then!" she volunteered. It was an easy position and she'd be able to observe everyone.

The whole game Kira only caught the ball with bare minimum attention. She hadn't missed one but Yamamoto's pitches really hurt! The boy had an arm on him... and legs. He always hit a homerun and was at the next base before you could blink. Amazing, really. They definitely needed someone like him in the family.

"Are you okay with cleaning up all by yourself?"

Tsuna groaned but nodded. "It's always like this. I'm used to it."

"Hmmm…" Kira folded her arms behind her head and raised her head towards the sky. "You shouldn't have to be…"

"Well, that's how it is. But it's not like I enjoy it either."

"I see. Well, I'd hate to leave you alone, but Reborn said I couldn't interfere with your school life because that was his job."

Tsuna let out a humourless chuckle. "Is that so…"

"But perhaps that won't be the case…"

"Eh? What do you mean?"

Kira gestured with her chin to look behind him. Yamamoto was strolling towards them with a broom and a grin.

"Help has arrived!"

Kira clapped Tsuna on the shoulder. "Looks like you don't need me anymore! Thanks for the help, Takeshi."

Yamamoto laughed. "It's no problem! Tsuna's been really awesome lately and it would be wrong if he had to clean up an entire baseball diamond by himself. Oh yeah, is it okay if I call you that?"

Tsuna nodded eagerly. "Of course!" It was so cute to see him making more friends. "And that reminds me, Kira, why do you call everyone by their first names? I mean, it's fine with me but calling Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto by theirs…"

"Well why not? He's going to be part of the family anyway."

"What?" Tsuna grabbed Kira by the wrist and made her huddle with him a few meters away. "You can't bring Yamamoto into this as well!"

Kira rolled her eyes. "Yes I can and it's going to happen so you're just going to get used to it. Even if I don't recruit him, Reborn will."

"No! Stop forcing people to join the mafia!"

"Fine then." She stood up, back straight and called Yamamoto over. "Is it okay if I call you Takeshi?"

"Sure, I don't mind."

She smirked at him. "See. He doesn't mind."

Tsuna pouted and glared weakly at the ground. "Whatever. Shouldn't you go get changed?"

Kira snickered and messed up his hair before sprinting away from a flustered Tsuna. She laughed like a mad coyote the whole way back to the locker room and had to sit for three minutes to catch her breath. A few people asked her what she was laughing about but she just shook her head and went to change back into her uniform.

* * *

><p>School came to an end and Kira was busying herself with Gokudera's latest order of dynamite. Just as she finished her last batch of orders and was looking forward to some shut eye the little twit had to order enough dynamite to blow Japan off the face of the earth. What the hell did he even do with all of it? She hadn't seen him use that many. The amount used and ordered didn't match and so she could only assume he was stocking up.<p>

"More importantly Reborn, what if he actually figures out who I am?" Kira rubbed her forehead. They were lounging in a tunnel above the school's furnace room and were guaranteed privacy. "That dolt would never buy from me again."

Reborn sipped his tea. "Is that all you're worried about? Well, either way it's your problem."

Kira paused in her brainstorming as she noted that she wasn't the one who turned it into an official challenge. "That and this whole being part of the Disciplinary Committee… you want me to recruit Kyouya, right?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

She groaned in slight frustration and stretched her tense muscles. "Alright, but please don't interfere this time… I'm already about to assassinate myself."

Reborn scoffed as he polished a rifle. "You don't have the guts to kill anything, let alone commit suicide."

"Aaargh!" She grabbed her head and folded into a ball, screaming into her lap to let out her stress that had built up extremely quickly over the course of one week. "I swear Japan is out to get me!"

"Which reminds me, Hibari said he wanted to see you in the reception room after school ASAP."

Kira's wails died down and she peeked out with one eye. "You sure?"

"Yes."

"Should I go?"

"Doesn't matter to me. Besides, you said to not interfere."

Kira made a face and felt a foreboding come over her. Somehow she knew her words were going to bite her in the butt. "I'll… just go then."

* * *

><p>"Hey Kyouya," Kira entered the room without knocking. A very unimpressed Hibari glared at her.<p>

"You are late herbivore." There was another boy standing next to him and judging by the look on his face, it might not have been a good idea to call him by his first name in front of other people. "Kusakabe, you are dismissed for today."

Kira suppressed a laugh when the boy who was a head taller than Hibari saluted him and said 'Yes, Hibari-san'. She also noticed the confused look he shot her when he passed by. Maybe using Italian manners in Japan wasn't a good idea after all…

"Sorry I'm late," she said quickly when she caught Hibari's menacing face. Of course she didn't mean it but it seemed like a good time to apologize. "So how can I help you?"

He wagged a finger at her to come over and Kira held back a sigh and eye roll. What was up with this guy? "I've got a job for you. Get rid of this virus and set up the best antivirus you've got."

Kira took the laptop with both hands and couldn't help but grin. So she wasn't the only one with enough enemies that one of them would actually have the brains to break into her computer.

"Sure, I can do that. Do you need this done within a certain timeframe?"

"At the very latest by tomorrow at midnight." He sat back down and began looking through papers. So maybe he really did rule the school… "If I find anything missing or you take too long I'll bite you to death."

"Mmmkay."

Kira pushed the power button and to her annoyance it didn't turn on. She plugged the AC adapter in and tried again to the same result. Now she was in some real trouble. All her tools were back in Tsuna's basement and who knew what would be in her inbox when she got back. "Is it okay if I take this with me? I'll have it fixed by tomorrow morning."

"That's fine by me."

She carefully closed the lid and gave him a curt wave. "See you tomorrow."

He didn't reply.

But Kira expected this and her mind was elsewhere already. _I left my car behind the school… gah, what am I going to do with it? _Tsuna's house didn't have a garage so she had no place to park it without attracting unwanted attention. She hugged the laptop closer as she sped down the stairs to her classroom to retrieve her bag.

Sitting in her car, she spent a good hour going over order details, making sure the dynamite was delivered, replying to business partners and customers, and texting Dino. Apparently after his next job he would come to visit. For now she could park her car at his base in Japan. However, it was rush hour and so she didn't even consider driving seeing as she had better chances getting there faster on foot. _And if I go there by car then I'll have to get back by bus and train. Best to go on the weekends then… ARGH, that's two days away which is two too many._

She noticed it first when she opened the door that the cloaking device was failing and turned on and off every few hours. "Damn Verde and his beta experiments… he never tells me what stage these things are in."

The name _Fedele_ mocked her as she tried to think of someone who would do this for her. "Should I call him?" She slumped back in her seat and idly scratched at her wrist and played with the end of her sleeve. "But he hates me."

…

"I don't have a lot of friends."

_I'll just text him and if he does it then great._ The whole time she was typing there was a frown plastered to her face. Something about Fedele made her fidgety and suspicious.

By the time she got back she was surprised to find Kyoko leaving Tsuna's house in a rush. There was also a lot of damage done to the house as well as Nana's brain. To make her forget this Kira would have to drug her. A guilty feeling washed over her; despite being a Mafioso Kira didn't like the idea of drugging Nana. The woman was innocent and got caught up in something unpleasant when all she did was shelter and care for them.

Nana was put to bed soundly and Tsuna was left to clean up the mess whilst Kira's nanobots repaired all structural damage. They still had to get a new refrigerator though. She couldn't be bothered to repair that, especially with her promise to fix Hibari's computer.

* * *

><p>An explosion jolted Kira from her sleep. Her phone read 6:17PM, which meant she had been sleeping for a good half hour. Repairing Hibari's computer was harder than she anticipated due to a few complications… not only was his battery half dead but his AC adapter was in barely working condition. Luckily she had a universal adapter, but she could do little for his battery. The virus was more odd than difficult to delete and she ended up getting side-tracked studying it rather than doing her job…<p>

When she went to pocket her phone, it vibrated.

_A text?_

**From: Hibari Kyouya**

_Find the identity and address of the person who infected that computer. I expect results first thing tomorrow._

Kira blinked at the screen and wondered three things: Why didn't he say it earlier, how did he get her number, and how did she get _his_ number?

Then—"Reborn."

Tracking the soon-to-be-deadmeat was a piece of cake and she quickly texted him back, screw first thing in the morning. Tsuna was probably being quizzed by Reborn judging by the explosions and she did not want to miss it.

"Kira!"

"So which subject are you failing at?" she playfully taunted him and flopped down next to Reborn, out of harm's way. "Having fun?"

"How can you possibly have fun being quizzed like this?"

"True."

"Not exactly. _I'm_ having fun." Reborn commented, and then set off another explosion just for the hell of it.

"So am I! Buwahahaha!" A child the same size as Reborn cackled outside of Tsuna's window on a tree branch pointing a gun at Reborn. He began yelling at Reborn about killing him and Tsuna's jaw dropped, Kira went quiet, but Reborn was oblivious to his existence.

"Next question."

"But Reborn… there's a kid—"

Kira cupped her face in her hands as she watched the cute kid realize there weren't any bullets in his gun. When the tree branch snapped, she cringed. Poor thing. He wanted a rematch with Reborn, right? Well, he wouldn't win, but if she let him in then he wouldn't be falling off trees, although he'd be injured less… So when the doorbell rang, she opened it and crouched down to his level.

"Hello. My name is Kizuna Kira," she introduced with a silly grin. The kid was so darn cute. "Nice to meet you…"

"I'm Lambo-san! So you better call me that and nothing else, got it?" He yelled happily and pointed at Kira's nose. She laughed along and held out a finger for him to shake since his hand was too small.

"Haha, got it Lambo-san! Are you here to meet Reborn?"

Lambo hmpf'd and put his hands to his hips. "Well of course! We _are_ sworn rivals after all!"

She chuckled at his response. Reborn didn't know he existed, but who said she had to be the bearer of bad news? So she picked him up and held him up with one arm like a plush doll. "I'll take you to him then."

"Bwahahah! The great Lambo-san already has a servant! Climb faster, lackey!" He kicked and punched the air while Kira tried to not him through all the movement.

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

"Faster!"

"Not possible!"

Before Kira would open the door, Lambo jumped out of her arms and entered the room in the most dynamic way possible. He kicked the door open with a knife in hand and filled the silence with boisterous laughter. Except…

"Remember this formula."

"Eh," Tsuna looked uncertainly at Lambo, "but…"

Lambo ended up still trying to attack Reborn, resulting in him getting too emotional, tripping, introducing himself while crying, and threatening to use the Ten-Year Bazooka. Kira had never heard of something like it before and was now dying to get her hands on it.

"Grenade! Die, Reborn!"

He flew out the window along with the grenade… _And I brought him here so he wouldn't be falling from this height._

What concerned Kira more was that the explosion could wake Nana. It was a lot louder than the explosives Reborn was using, and if Nana woke too early, the effects would be insufficient and another dose could be dangerous. She went downstairs to check and Nana was opening the door to Lambo. Did the kid not learn his lesson?

"Oh, Kira-kun, can you call Tsuna down for me?"

"Sure."

Nope, it seemed to have worked fine.

* * *

><p>"Why are we here?" Kira kicked a pebble as they strolled by the river. Tsuna didn't want to look after Lambo so Kira volunteered to go with him. She liked Lambo after all.<p>

"This place always calms me down so I thought maybe Lambo would feel a bit calmer too." Tsuna looked away, embarrassed at having said that.

"It's a nice thought I guess…" she shrugged and then stretched her arms behind her head. "Hey, what's that?" Kira pointed to a rundown building.

Tsuna paused and picked up Lambo who was still hiccupping from crying. "Oh, that used to be a warehouse but the company that owns it went bankrupt and now they have to close and sell everything."

This sparked an idea in Kira's mind. She pretended to be interested in the conversation and took a few steps to get a closer look. "How do you know? You don't look like the type that follows the news." There was graffiti over the left half of it depicting waterfalls, but over it someone had painted crudely in black "GET OUT". Strange as it was, Kira didn't dwell on it. A new paintjob was a small price to pay.

"My mom was talking about it."

"Did she say if there were potential buyers?"

Tsuna looked up to the darkening sky, pondering his answer. He didn't remember much, granted he wasn't really listening to Nana. "I think she said there were a few since it's in a good location or something."

"I see." She didn't make any further inquiries and turned her attention to consoling Lambo.

Lambo came from a medium sized family called the Bovino, was sent to assassinate Reborn, met him at a bar and likes grape flavoured candies. It took ten minutes of cooing and making faces at him to get him to smile. He was now rambling about defeating Reborn, how cool his weapons were and how awesome he was. Tsuna was actually pretty good at consoling children when he wasn't focused on how he didn't want to be there.

Kira found it unnecessary to join them and was scrolling through webpages looking for the company selling the warehouse. If she was lucky she would be able to buy it and convert it into a base. As Tsuna said, it was in a great location. Close to the shopping district, transportation, air travel and digging tunnels parallel to the subway route would be easy but a long process.

Her undivided attention was focused on the website of Miashi's Fisheries INC., soon to become her storage bin and entrance to an underground base. There were quite a few offers, but none that were remotely satisfying seeing as the company did not show the slightest interest. She would offer 10% over their asking price and the deal would be sealed. Being a Mafioso had its advantages. That being money. She placed an offer and hit SEND, excited for their response.

"It's getting dark," she declared out loud. Standing up and dusting off her pants, she scooped up Lambo in one arm and helped Tsuna up with the other. "Let's go. Dinner is probably ready."

"Right."

Lambo's tears started pouring again and Kira sighed. Was he that afraid of Reborn? "Tsunayoshi, give him some grape candies, will you? We can't stay here forever or else Reborn will eat all our food. He doesn't look like it but can eat a full course meal if he wants to."

"Hold on, I think I have a couple in my pocket." Tsuna dug around in his coat pocket and fished out four grape flavoured hard candies that Lambo dropped the last time he flew out the window. "These are yours anyway."

They managed to get him calm enough to bring home after several promises of grape candies and pasta. Food seemed to be the way to get Lambo's cooperation.

The second Kira got through the door she snatched up a plate of pasta and headed to the basement. It was only when a loud explosion went off that she headed upstairs to survey the damage, expecting to see broken walls but instead found a missing Lambo and a stranger standing shrouded in pink fog.

"It's me, Lambo who was once a crybaby."

_Eh?_

"The person who uses the Ten-Year Bazooka switches places with their future self for five minutes."

_W-what?_

"It's real…?"

How had it managed to slip under her radar? Her eyes took in the rest of the events but she stood there frozen trying to come up with a logical explanation on how such an invention had slipped past her.

"_The Bovino are only a small-medium sized family. I don't have time to waste on such low ranking people."_

_Of course… it's just like Reborn to never mention anything he doesn't deem worthy of his time. But it's my fault too. Why didn't I just do my thing instead of listening to him?_

"Ah, young Vongola, how are you doing?" Lambo gave him a wave with two fingers and slouched against the doorframe, bumping into Kira's shoulder. "Ooops, sorry—"

"It's okay…" she said out of reflex.

Lambo's mouth opened but then he quickly closed it and seemed to recognize her. Her fists clenched at her sides as she resisted yelling "DON'T SAY ANYTHING" right then and there, but the look on her face must have been sufficient because Lambo immediately put on a poker face. He just smiled and Kira's hands relaxed.

"It's nice to see you too again," he murmured and hugged her tightly. Kira almost squawked at the sudden embrace, her brain malfunctioning at what to do. Why was there a random stranger who was supposed to be Lambo's future-self hugging her? "Thank you for taking care of my younger self, _Luciana_."

The sound of her real name sent shockwaves through her body as she instantly realized why he was hugging her. The twerp was either blackmailing her or he just wanted to feel smug and let her know that he knew her secret. But this was his future-self, meaning that her identity would be forcefully revealed seeing as she had never willing told anyone. This was frustrating, almost maddening news.

When he pulled away there was a strange kind of half smile on his face. She couldn't decipher it so she just decided to file it away as a sincere smile and stopped thinking about what happened ten seconds ago. _Once he changes back I'll confiscate and take apart that thing and figure out its secrets…_ Then Lambo's face dropped and Kira had half a mind to roll her eyes and ask what was it now when she realized her arms were still held out part way to hug him, but she hadn't hugged back. _Is it that big a deal?_

"It's fine, I remember you being really weirded out the first time you saw this." He turned around and took something out of his sleeves. "But let's get back to business and why I'm really here. Reborn, it's time we've had our rematch. I'll show you how much I've changed in ten years."

He hadn't changed much.

Tsuna was scolded for letting them fight and Kira showered for an hour trying to get the feel of that hug off her skin. She scrubbed her arms until they burned in an angry red and stopped before breaking any skin. It still irked her how he hugged her… and now she had questions with nothing but hypotheses.

Tsuna's door opened and his head poked out, looking both ways. "Hey Kira, Reborn's trying to teach me math so can you go play with Lambo? He went to look for you in the basement."

She just nodded without sparing him a glance and trotted down the stairs in sweatpants and blue t-shirt, her tattoo exposed. She was mighty proud of coming up with the design herself.

"It's a nice design."

Kira reflexively grabbed the arm of the person who startled her and bent it behind his back and pushed him to the wall.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

When she realized that he wasn't a threat she loosened her grip to see the teenage Lambo again. _That explains the pink smoke-fog. I must have been staring at my arm again._

"It seems my younger self tripped over some wires while trying to find you…" he said as if she asked. "I apologize in advance if I caused you any trouble with the wires that were pulled out."

For some reason Kira felt a bit annoyed at this new Lambo. He spoke like a gentleman and wasn't half bad to look at, but just the fact that he knew more than she did in an area made her bristle with jealousy. She didn't even try to hide it and led him into her workshop. Getting answers out of him shouldn't be too hard.

"Sit."

He looked around with a blank expression and glanced at her with his eyes questioningly.

"Just kick something aside and sit. It's not like you had any problem tripping wires…" It came out harsher than she meant but you couldn't take back your words so she just rolled with it. Her back was turned to him as she made room for her to sit as well and missed the hurt look flash across his face.

"We only have five minutes, right?"

"Yes."

Kira leaned forward and spoke in a low and dangerous tone, almost snarling her words. "Then let's make this fast. I ask the questions, you answer, or else there won't be a you, got it?"

His face paled considerably and he nodded several times. "Yes, but you really don't have to threaten me, Luci—"

"Another thing, stop calling me Luci or Luciana," she interrupted, "or did you forget that I'm Kira right now?"

His mouth made an O shape. "Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that."

She squinted at him, trying to figure out if he meant it. "Are you saying you called me by my real name accidentally last time?"

"Accidentally?"

"As in you weren't blackmailing me or being smug that you knew my secret… or something like that…" she muttered. Her suspicions when said out loud made her feel slightly stupid, but there wasn't exactly a better way to word it.

There was a pregnant pause between them as she peeked out of the corner of her eye. He had a fist held up to his mouth no doubt suppressing laughter. She huffed and crossed her arms, looking away and ignoring the heat on her cheeks. "Go ahead and laugh, I don't care."

"S-sorry," he managed to sputter before bursting into a laughing and then giggling fit. What was so funny anyway?

"Okay, I get it, I was too paranoid, now stop laughing!" she cried desperately. "It wasn't that funny!"

Lambo clutched his stomach with one hand and held out the other to hold off Kira as he tried to calm down. "S-sorry, pffft, but seeing you so paranoid was really refreshing in a way."

"So you burst out laughing?"

"Sorry…"

"Whatever." She exhaled deeply to collect her thoughts. "First things first, why did you hug me before?"

He seemed to be genuinely lost. "What do you mean? You hug me all the time, and it's a normal greeting for us. Actually, since we're Italian, I should have kissed—"

"Okay, that's enough!" she declared. "You should also know that I'm not too into cultural things. Next, tell me when and who revealed my identity."

Lambo looked away for a second and bit his bottom lip. "I can't tell you… if I did, you could change it and that would trigger—"

"—an entirely different future, I know. I was just wondering…" she pouted. It bothered her to no bounds that this would be the second time her identity was revealed.

"Hey, time's almost up. How 'bout a goodbye hug?" he asked with a small smile. "You didn't hug back before."

She took his out stretched hand and smirked. "That depends, what's my name?"

He let out a small knowing sigh letting her know he got it, "Kira."

"Enjoy your hug, twerp." She wrapped her arms around him, and still found it odd the way he hugged her. It wasn't like a, "It's so great to see you again!" or "I'll miss you" hug. She may overanalyze things but when he buried his face in her shoulder and squeezed her that it almost hurt, she knew something was up. Why did it feel like he was saying goodbye forever? _No, stop that negative thinking right there missy. Lambo's a clingy kid who likes to have his way, that's all. We're probably just close friends in the future… yeah._ "By the way, how old is the you in this present?"

"Five…" came the muffled reply.

"Riiight," she drawled out and pulled out of the hug and pushed him back at arm's length. With one hand gripped on his elbow, she measured her height. She came up to his nose. "So you're a year younger than me and I'm still shorter than you…"

"Trust me, you'll grow."

Before she could make a comment he disappeared in a cloud of pink and the five-year-old Lambo was back. She rolled her eyes at the timing. "You're still growing too."

"KIRA!" Lambo launched himself onto Kira's leg and tried to climb up her side like a monkey. Kids these days…

_Oh well, as long I'll be able to outgrow one of the guys I'll be happy._

* * *

><p>Kira forced herself to wake up early the next morning. Hibari said if she wasn't at the school on time to return the laptop she'd be bitten to death. She brushed her teeth like a zombie and basically completed all her daily chores in a zombified state. Whoever said you didn't need eight hours of sleep everyday was a liar and she was going to blame anyone but her for not getting enough sleep.<p>

She had entertained Lambo until he fell asleep, repaired all the damages to her equipment done by said cow, and then did four hours of programming for a grouchy customer. Normally she would have ignored him but he was a regular and she didn't like the idea of losing a well-paying customer. The only upside to it was that while she was working she got a reply from Miashi's Fisheries Inc. accepting her offer. This fuelled her to go on.

"Who wakes up at 6:45 in the morning? The teachers aren't even there yet…" she said to no one in particular and yawned widely.

She remembered that after school Reborn was going to give Yamamoto a family entrance exam because it was only fair. Gokudera bitched and moaned about it since he had to go through Kira's challenge.

_In retrospect I should have kept my mouth shut. Now not only is he onto me but he might actually figure it out. Ahhh, this is all so messed up._

She finished the tedious chore of brushing her teeth, washing her face and heating a microwaveable dinner. Societal defined breakfast foods be damned, she'd eat whatever she wants to when she wants to. It was nearing 7:10 which was an hour before school, yet Hibari demanded she be there before 7:30. Half asleep and slightly ticked off, Kira pulled herself out of the comfy chair to face the outside world.

…

"I hate the outside world sometimes… why is school even necessary?"

"Out for a morning stroll?"

Kira's ears twitched at she picked up the sound of three pairs of feet approaching her from the left and behind her. Judging by their tone, they were lowlifes she didn't need to waste her energy on. So she ignored them and kept on walking.

"Hey, we're talking to you!" a second voice followed. "Didn't anyone teach you manners?"

A hand landed on her left shoulder and Kira just about had enough of their interference. She stopped walking and surveyed her surroundings to determine if she had set any booby-traps nearby. Blood stains were a pain to wash out.

_Five minutes away at the intersection of Kyoshei and Ajisai St., four remote controlled traps and two hand activated ones._ Against her better judgment, she turned around to give the jerk a piece of her mind. _Screw control your anger and use your words, I want these fools begging for mercy._

"None of your business." She slapped the hand away, her eyes glaring up from under her bangs. "I'm surprised trash like you are up this early."

"We just wanna talk to you. This here is our turf and it's not open until 8, so if you wanna pass you gotta pay the fee…" he snickered and held out his hand, wiggling his fingers. His lackeys followed suit and had their hands on weapons. Kira was fairly surprised to not see a gun in their arsenal.

_I love it when they make it easy for me… Guess I'll humour them._

"What if I don't have any money?"

"I'm sure we can find other ways for you to pay the 10,000 Yen."

_T-ten thousand Yen for walking in the streets? These idiots are out of their minds… The universe better thank me for what I'm about to do._

Their smirking faces blurred as Kira dropped her bag behind her feet. She released adrenalin and delivered a straight right punch to the leader's ribs, then an uppercut to his unprotected jaw. It happened so fast that his lackeys looked like they were in shock.

_Well considering they're all over six feet and I'm barely 5'4" it's no surprise they'd react this way._

"What the—!"

Already in the moment, Kira took this chance to give two more uppercuts and a knee to the ribs to the other two. They fell like the first with their foreheads against the gravel and clutching at their stomachs. Seeing the three crippled men moaning in pain, curled up in the middle of the street sated her frustrations. And although she couldn't feel the adrenalin leaving her blood stream, she could most certainly feel her muscles aching, screaming at her to give them a break already. But work came before her health so she pumped a bit more adrenalin to keep her going until she reached the school.

_Why does he need the laptop back so early anyway? Didn't I have until midnight? Speaking of which, I wonder if Hayato found anything._

She dragged herself up the stairs and slumped against the door for a few seconds before knocking. A boy with big hair opened the door, causing Kira to almost fall flat on her face. Hibari sat behind his desk, and there seemed to be another student standing awkwardly at the corner of the room. He was, however, not wearing their uniform.

"You may leave now, Kusakabe." Translation: Get out.

Kira closed the door behind her and slung the bag around to her chest. She took out the laptop with one hand and held up the bag. She had to waddle a bit to squeeze through between the couch and the table. She must have looked quite amusing because even the boy cracked a smile.

"Here's your laptop, all fixed up and ready to go. So can I leave now?"

"Not quite yet," he said as his eyes shifted to the boy. The poor thing was shaking visibly. "Introduce yourself."

"Sachiro Akito, t-third year from Kokyou Middle School."

"Uhhh…" _Oh! Hiiim…_ "You're the one who hacked into Kyouya's computer. Oh, you're gonna get in trooouble."

"Yes, and you'll be going to his house after school to get back these files." Hibari slipped a list of text files to her.

"And what're you going to do with him?" She jammed a finger at Akito. The short browned haired boy tensed up at his name and stared intensely at the floor.

"Bite him to death of course."

_Of course._

There was a small silence and Kira glanced at Akito. He felt her gaze and they made eye contact. Not awkward.

"Why are you still here, herbivore?"

"Hm?" Kira pointed at herself, asking if he meant her.

"Not you, _him._"

The boy inhaled sharply and went deadly still for a second before rushing out the door. He left it slightly ajar in his haste.

"So… he stole some important files, huh?"

"Yes, and after you've retrieved them I expect you to hand deliver them to me on this USB."

She caught the USB with ease and stared blankly at it. Now that her job was over the fatigue in her bones and muscles sank in, and it sank in deep. She stumbled back a few steps and fell over the arm of the couch, landing clumsily. "Nngh… got it…"

"And get off my couch."

"Where am I supposed to sit then?"

"Not in this room."

"Well then why did you call me out so early?"

At this Hibari looked up from his papers. He didn't look happy. "Did I?"

"Yes, you did!" she exclaimed, her frustration back from this morning back. To prove it, she ripped out her phone and showed him the text he sent. "See? Come to the school before 7:30!"

His lips curled into a small smirk as he plucked the phone from her hands. "It does seem so. Must have been a typo then. I meant come before _8:30_."

_EIIIGHT THIRTY? I COULD'VE GOTTEN ANOTHER HOUR OF SLEEP? SON OF A—_

"…"

"And by the way, no cellphones allowed on school grounds. I'll hold onto this for now."

It took approximately four point eight seconds for it to sink in. "…You planned this didn't you?"

"Heh," he pocketed the phone, "don't think I don't know you've been breaking school rules. Using unauthorized electronic devices, sleeping in class, disrespecting the teachers, allegedly cheating on tests, and _damaging school property_."

Kira propped herself up on her elbows. "In my defense I'm practically one with technology, I sleep in class because it's the only time for me to sleep, I made one cultural mistake in English class, I never cheated since I don't need to—nor do I want to—and you said it'd be fine as long as we repaired it, which we did."

"I'm aware, which is why I'm only confiscating your phone."

"You won't snoop, will you?"

"I don't have time for that."

_That's good._

His previous warning already forgotten, Kira fell back and sank into a deep slumber, unaware of the irritated glare sent her way.

* * *

><p>Phew! This was a doozy. School has started and the new semestered system makes everything a lot easier.<p>

Thank you for those who faved and added this story to their alerts. Also thank you **poakkis, novellanite12, Conanfan15, 666AnimeFan666, Ansuz Nauthiz, steel-alchemist,** and** TwewyReaperGirl** for reviewing.

I really appreciate your comments and feedback!


	5. Lorenzo INC

**Disclaimer: Why do I even bother putting these up? KHR isn't mine. Never will be.**

**Chapter 5**

**Lorenzo INC.**

"Get up, herbivore."

Kira stirred a bit but did not wake. Hibari, already agitated with her presence, pressed the tip of his tonfa to the underside of her chin. The familiar feel of metal made her sigh and to Hibari's chagrin, instead of waking up with a start, she grabbed said tonfa with both hands and rubbed her cheek against it. This sudden move didn't make Hibari lose his grip and so he ended up being dragged down a bit. In fact, Kira was unconsciously brushing her nose on the back of his hand.

…

…

…

_Huh? It's warm… but steel isn't supposed to be—_"AHHH!" Kira screeched, hands clutching the tonfas tighter. When she realized she was still holding onto it she paused mid-scream but did not loosen her grip. Hibari's face contorted into a mix of anger and impatience and he literally ripped the tonfa—and his hand—out of her hold.

"Class is starting in 2 minutes. Get your things and get out," he snarled.

Completely awake and refreshed, Kira saluted him lazily and mumbled something about being too uptight and grouchy, then got her bag and hightailed it out of there. Once she was off the second floor, Hibari sat where Kira had slept mere moments ago and idly twirled the tonfa in his hand, wondering about what Reborn said. He was originally going to throw her out and leave her in the hallway, but the baby convinced him not to.

_Hibari's fingers twitched as the blonde totally ignored his warning and slept anyway. The newbie may have been helpful, but that did not earn him couch sleeping rights._

"_I know you're there."_

"_Ciaossu, Hibari. I see Kira passed out on the couch."_

"_Either you take this herbivore with you or I'll throw him out."_

_Reborn didn't reply right away; he was pouring tea…. Taking a sip, Reborn turned to Hibari, "I think you'll find something interesting if you let him rest. This morning he took out three delinquents with his bare hands in under half a minute. And they just happened to be the same ones that you wanted eliminated."_

_Hibari's eyes widened a fraction as his gaze shifted to the small figure lying limp on his couch. _This scrawny thing?

"_Aren't you interested by how he did that?"_

Very much so… _"So what are you suggesting?"_

"_If you give him a place to rest from time to time, I'm sure he'll tell you."_

"_I could always force it out of him," he scoffed at the baby's reason. He obviously just wanted to find a place for the herbivore to sleep._

_Reborn's eyes glinted beneath his fedora, "I wouldn't be so sure about that. Remember, he told you that he didn't want to wear the uniform because it would bring you trouble due to his weak disposition. But today, he proved to be more than capable of protecting himself. Don't you find that suspicious?"_

"_Your point is?"_

"_There's more than the geeky computer nerd to him, and if you can earn his trust, I promise you, you won't be disappointed."_

Hibari wasn't sure if the baby lied or not, but the strength Kira showed when she grabbed Hibari's tonfa was real. It wasn't that he didn't want to pull away, but he couldn't. The skinny nerd was quite strong in his sleep. Now anticipating the next few weeks, he walked over to his desk and studied the file crushed under paper work for the Disciplinary Committee.

STUDENT FILE

Kizuna, Kira

Male

Age 15

So far her grades were perfect in all but gym and art, but what bothered Hibari was that on the transfer papers it said she'd been homeschooled and he couldn't get in contact with this 'Boreen' guy. As far as parents went, the names she put down didn't match anyone in records and their numbers all redirected him to voicemail. It was like these people didn't exist.

Hibari stopped short of flipping through her papers. Why did he even care if he couldn't get in contact with some elusive instructor or the nerd's parents?

But still, no rumour in this school escaped his ears, and from what they told him, the nerd on his first day of school immediately made a beeline for Sawada Tsunayoshi—a nobody—and attracted a good chunk of his grade with his intelligence and another chunk for being… foreign and blonde. In fact, what the hell was he hearing about the first year girls making a fanclub for the Italian duo?

Then there was that.

The silver-haired herbivore came from a school, but the nerd did not. They were supposed to arrive on the same day, but did not. They both 'returned' for family matters, but did not seem to have any family in Japan or Italy. They both became attached at the hip to Tsuna for reasons unknown, and they both scored perfect on every test so far. It didn't take a genius to figure out there was something off.

Once is chance.

Twice is coincidence.

Thrice is a pattern.

So what was five or six?

* * *

><p>Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Kira yawned widely and vaguely registered the first warning bell. She wobbled down the stairs ignoring the second years giving her odd looks. Were they that interested in seeing an Italian?<p>

The day rolled by slowly and she couldn't be any happier that lunch was only a few minutes away. That's when a crumpled up piece of line paper landed on her desk. Without bothering to check who threw it, she lazily unfolded it and eyeballed the note:

_Today is my birthday and I'm having a party on Saturday. Just wanted you to know that you're invited!_

_Ame_

_I don't want to go. _Another balled up paper rolled onto her desk. Still not paying attention to the origin of said paper she unrolled it and raised an eyebrow at the message.

_Go._

She squinted and glanced around the room quickly when no one was looking to see if she could spot the little assassin. There were three entrances to the tunnels and since the paper rolled onto her desk and Reborn knew what Ame wrote, it could only mean he was hidden in the walls to her left. Probably drinking tea.

She scowled and crumpled it, shoving both papers into her pocket. Saturday was only four days away and Dino was supposed to arrive by then; she didn't want to miss out on his arrival. They hadn't seen each other in months due to busy work schedules and she really didn't want to go to some stupid birthday party.

_But Reborn… what is he thinking? _Nervously she stole a glance at Ame and made eye contact. Knowing it was definitely going to slap her in the face later, she gave Ame a thumbs up. Ame beaming at her didn't make it any better. The dread weighed down so deep it dropped into her stomach.

"Kizuna-kun," the geography teacher called her. Kira looked up, a dazed tint in her eyes. "Are you listening?"

"Yes," she blurted out in reflex.

"Then please answer this question on the board." She pointed to question four with a meter stick and Kira read it over slowly in her head. It could have just been paranoia, but it seemed everyone was staring at her, waiting for her to mess up.

"Tectonic plates…"

Her response was apparently satisfying and she nodded, moving onto the next unsuspecting daydreamer. Kira slumped back thinking about why Reborn would want her to go to some silly birthday party. Then her thoughts trailed to Hibari. Why did he feel the need to call her out this early? And why didn't he kick her out? She was fully prepared to wake up on the pavement looking into curious squirrelly eyes.

"Kizuna-kun, are you so self-confident that you feel this test isn't worth your time?"

"Huh?" She looked down to her desk. When had that test paper materialized?

"Ten minutes left."

_That explains the silence…_ and then—_wow, I'm out of it._

Thankfully it was only a quiz so there were only a few short answers and the chunk of the marks were multiple choice and matching. As usual she slept until the bell after the quiz, deeming it no longer necessary to stay awake.

What seemed like only minutes passed by in her sleep before she was woken up when a hand landed on her shoulder and shook her gently. "Kira, it's time to go, school is over."

_Who does that squeaky voice belong to? Wah, go away… my aching head…_

"Hey you…"

"Hey you…"

…

"KIZUNA!"

"AAARGGH—!" Kira recoiled with a yelp, and in the process she tipped her chair back, fell over, and bumped her head on the desk behind her. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"What's wrong with _you?!_" Gokudera retorted, poking her in the forehead. Kira swatted his hand away, scowling. She propped her chair up and turned around to walk face-first into her bag. "Kekeke…"

_Son of a…_ "Very mature, Hayato," she mumbled through the fabric.

"Uhm, Kira, do you know why there are Disciplinary Committee members staring at us?"

Her ears twitched at the mention of them. "Where?"

Tsuna's hand rose slowly, shaking ever so slightly pointing out the window. She tilted her head and indeed there were three members staring back at her. Did Hibari want something?

"You guys go ahead, I've got some business to take care of." Tsuna nodded and said goodbye. Kira gave him a small wave and Gokudera followed him out, but not without giving her a hard glare for insurance.

When the door slid shut, Kira opened the window and poked her head out. "Can I help you?"

"You're the new meat, yeah?"

"Yeah." She blinked.

He smirked. "Hibari-san wanted us to give you some pointers since you're new and all. Firstly, don't—"

"No thanks," Kira interjected and slammed the window shut. Angry shouts and the sound of fists against glass didn't affect her. _If they want to break the glass and cut their hands then let them, it's not my problem._

She quietly jogged down the hall to the back of the building where they were setting up the equipment for Yamamoto's family entrance exam. Reborn left her and Gokudera with all the work while he went to fetch Tsuna and Yamamoto. Today Yamamoto didn't have baseball practice so the only people they had to avoid were the Disciplinary Committee.

"I don't like this setup," Gokudera grumbled lowly. Being stuck with Kira alone for more than two seconds was too much for him to bear. She scoffed and continued wiring the machine.

"I'm not exactly thrilled about it either."

"Of all the people…" he kept muttering to himself whilst typing in programming lines.

"Hey," she called nonchalantly, "don't burn yourself out and make a mistake Hayato. Reborn doesn't like technical errors."

"Guess you'd know that from experience, Mr. Assistant," he snickered.

Kira's hands paused for a moment on the blue and green wires. Then picking up a black one hesitantly, she shrugged. "You're right on that one I'll give you that. It was with wiring too. We had separate systems for heating and cooling and I connected the generator to the furnace instead of the air conditioner during summer. We were wondering why the whole base was being blasted with hot air. It was pretty ugly."

"HA!" Gokudera exclaimed, "I knew it! You _are_ a fraud."

"What are you blabbering about now?" She yawned. The lack of movement and onerous task was boring her, causing her to slowly sink back into sleep.

"This!" Before she could make a snarky remark, Gokudera pulled her up by the armpit and in an instant she was staring at the screen of her laptop.

_Oh…_

"So you found it."

_Or so you think._

"See it and weep." He stood with his arms crossed and leaned against the wall. "See? Dead. Or missing in action. Whatever you want to call it."

"I hate to tell you this, but that's incorrect." She spun the laptop towards her and actually began rapidly punching in codes. "The key is to look and observe, not research. You still have time so do your best. Your only possible loss is being kicked out of the family, but that shouldn't be a big deal since you haven't been here that long."

"What?!"

"Hey, it's my identity so I know you're dead wrong. How could I be dead when I'm standing right here?"

"You aren't Reborn's assistant!"

"And I say I am."

_God, even with all the clues I gave him I can't believe he hasn't figured it out yet. And never mind that, he's not even trying. The dolt's too stuck up with trying to prove me wrong to actually _look.

"Hey, come take a look at this." She pointed to the last line of text, a custom code specially designed by a few select minds, Gokudera being one of them. "Do you know it?"

"Heh, move it." He shoved her none too gently out of the way. "I know this code. Now let the professional take over."

Kira stepped back and sat on one of the crates full of ammo. She really wanted to scream at him for not taking the hint, but it was fair game now. She'd given away too much information. _What a useless gamble. What was I thinking? I'm usually more rational than this…_

"Done," Gokudera declared suddenly. "Now let's hurry up and get this to the baseball diamond."

"Sure. You want to steer or should I?"

Gokudera turned around with a glint in his eye. "A chance to shoot spiked cannon balls at that baseball idiot?"

"Uhhh, okay," she drawled out nervously and proceeded to unload the crates to stock the machine. "After this I'm going to run some errands. Actually, make that now."

She didn't give him time to object and quickly fled the vicinity in a tunnel to the front gates. She was supposed to be there in exactly five minutes after class ended, but evidently she was late. By fifteen minutes. _Poor kid. First he steals from Kyouya, now his house is going to be infiltrated. His week must suck._

"Hey, kid." Kira had spotted the nervous wreck when she turned the corner. His behaviour was identical to that of Tsuna's. Getting everything on the list was going to be a snap. "Ready to go?"

He nodded rapidly and so hard that Kira was concerned his neck might snap in two. What on earth did Hibari do to this kid? They ended up taking a train to Kokyou and Kira had fallen asleep. When she woke up she found to her embarrassment she had fallen asleep on the frightened child. "Sorry. Haven't been getting enough sleep lately."

He shuffled away and bowed his head to her confusion before pointing west and running out of the train. Thinking that he was trying to run away Kira sped after him, but after noticing the signs of a westbound train that went all the way through Kokyou and to Shifuku she realized he had been giving her directions. She slowed down and calmly stepped onto the train behind him. _Hey, I'm taller. Only by an inch, but still. Cool._

"Hey." Akito glanced up from underneath his bangs. "You don't live in Kokyou, do you?" She must have been right because he stiffened up like a dead bug. "I'm not going to use this information against you or anything"—_Unless I have to—_"So you can relax." He started fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, still silent. Kira became suspicious and glanced at his face from below to find him opening and closing his mouth rapidly as if trying to speak but unable to. "Something wrong?"

He shook his head no, but it was obviously a lie.

"Are you by any chance mute?"

He stopped his frantic movement immediately, paused, and nodded. Kira could relate a bit to him. Being forced into a corner and developing a highly evolved defence mechanism. _Kyouya made him speak. I can only imagine what Kyouya did to him to get him to speak._ She reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of paper and pencil. "Can you write down what Kyouya did to you for me? You don't have to if you don't want to, but I'm going to talk to him about it if it's really bad."

He hesitated in taking her offer, but nervously wrote down one short phrase.

_I'll kill you._

_He must have backed that up with some evidence._ "Hey, show me your arms."

He stared in surprise and shook his head no. She rolled her eyes and flopped down beside him. "I don't bite." This seemed to reassure him somewhat and he rolled up his sleeves. "Does it still hurt?" He nodded. Kira looked away, feeling guilty that she had laughed at the poor idiot who hacked into Hibari's computer. "Do your parents know?"

No.

"Does anyone outside of this matter know?"

No.

"Is your arm bandaged properly?"

He paused in saying no and wrote, 'Probably not.'

"Are you hurt anywhere else?"

Yes.

"Do you mind if we fix you up first?"

No.

"Good."

The ride became silent, but Kira remembered something near their destination. "I haven't introduced myself yet. Silly me, I'm Kizuna Kira, nice to meet you Akito." He shifted in his seat, turned to her a bit and gave a small bow. It was quite endearing, really. _How could such a meek kid muster up the courage to randomly hack into Kyouya's computer? Ahhh, he's probably being used. Hopefully Kyouya will understand and Akito will be alive by the end of this week. Guess that goes for me too. Still, Kyouya's out of his mind._

They arrived at a small but pretty house in a quiet, residential area. It seemed to be a peaceful town, but something was off. They were near major cities so the absolute silence bothered her. It was always in one of these settings that terrible things took place. He must have had the same feeling because she was quickly ushered in.

"Nice house." The inside was even better than the exterior and it was hard to believe that someone living in these conditions could become mute. _Shouldn't make assumptions._ To her shock, he actually mustered up the courage to pull her by the arm and quietly ran upstairs on tip toes. This she found interesting but copied to minimize the noise of her footsteps.

Akito pulled out a first-aid kit the size of a suitcase from underneath his bed and sat patiently beside it, expectant.

"Show me all your injuries." She eyeballed the contents and was thoroughly impressed. He had way more than he needed including—"Is that morphine?"

Akito must have had a massive confidence boost and nodded, the nervousness gone from his face. He held out his arms, gesturing that they were to be taken care of first. Hibari had wounded him in the stomach, legs, and she was pretty sure he had a broken rib. How he just walked away from it all showing barely any signs of pain she could not understand. Even if he contracted these injuries on a regular basis he was still a scrawny kid who didn't look like his tolerance for pain was very high.

"That'll do. Do you remember how to do the procedure properly now?" She asked when she saw him pick at the bandages. He nodded and kicked the suitcase under the bed. "You should go see a doctor about the broken rib though." Akito shook his head vehemently and Kira had to physically constrain him. "Okay, okay, you don't have to right now, but think about it. Let's just get the files and I'll take my leave."

The unsettling feeling in Kira's gut grew as she finished retrieving the files and destroying any copies. The process took twenty minutes to check every device and the whole time Akito stared at her. "Okay, so have you thought about it?" He nodded yes. "Will you go?"

At that he wrote, 'Only if you go with me.'

_Strange kid. He's terrified of me one second and the next he wants me to go with him to a hospital. _She looked at Akito again and immediately regretted it. Even though it was most likely unintentional, he was giving her a tiny hopeful yet sad look that tugged at her heart strings. It was her fault since she was the one who ratted him out and—_it's my responsibility now…_ "Okay, let's go." Akito beamed and threw open his closet, grabbed a coat, scooped up his school bag and dashed out of the room. She twirled the USB in her hand and wondered what that was about but didn't manage to take one step before Akito raced back in, took her by the arm and dragged her out.

_Does this mean we're friends?_

He stopped abruptly and turned to her in slight confusion. She just stared back at him for a moment. Then to her surprise, he smiled and nodded, making her sigh lightly seeing as she once again spoke without meaning to. "Alright then, as a friend I must not let you suffer," she declared to mask her accidental question. It was nice having a new friend, but she didn't know what to do now. _Guh, stupid guilt. Sometimes I wish I could be a sociopath. That makes me wonder, is Kyouya a sociopath? No, he fits a psychopath better._

"Um," Akito started nervously, poking his fingers together and staring at his feet. Kira had walked way past him in her momentary daze of frustration.

"Hm?" She backtracked and stood three feet away from Akito, who had still yet to look up. "What is it?" He didn't respond and curious, Kira manoeuvred her head to look at him from below. The boy was trying to speak again but was badly shaken and blushing furiously. _Ah, so cute. Shame he's having such a hard time speaking though._ "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. Let's keep walking. The hospital's this way, right?" She pointed northwest.

* * *

><p>"Hey, where were you? You missed seeing the baseball idiot almost getting impaled!" Gokudera cackled. There was a glint in his eye and frankly Kira just wanted to crash.<p>

"Really? Damn." Kira began to walk around him, but was blocked by an outstretched arm. "What is it?"

Gokudera let his arm fall back to his side and moved in front of her. "There's one hour left, and I want to know something about the challenge. Am I allowed to have someone else find your identity?"

_Someone else?_ "That depends, who is it?"

"No one you would know. It's a… friend of mine."

_A friend, huh? _"Go ahead then. Can I go now?" She yawned widely and rubbed at her eyes.

"No, this shouldn't take too long. You'll get an answer within five minutes tops." He seemed to have full faith in this person, but also looked reluctant to call them. "Hold on." He turned with his back to her and Kira slumped against a street light, waiting impatiently for him to make the call.

_He can't possibly know someone who knows about me._ Bored, she took out her phone—Hibari had taken her work phone, but he didn't know about her private phone—and idly scrolled through her contact list playing the '_Who Do I Really Not Need?'_ game. Then, her hand froze as one named blared alarm bells in her ears. Gokudera Hayato's name stared and mocked her. This was her private phone, so why was his name there? She quickly checked the details and surely it was the right information. She began panicking when she realized her phone wasn't on silent and before she could set it to silent Gokudera had made the call. A digital ringtone filled the night and she looked up hesitantly to see the Gokudera's mouth hanging open in shock. _Yeah, he knows._

"Y-y-you're her?!" He blanched, pointing at her dramatically. "But we're in the same gym class and—" The realization sunk in.

_Bullshitting through this is going to be hard._ "What are you going on about? Ame just called to ask if I was going to her birthday party." She quickly hit the end call button and tried to leave but her wrist was seized, twisted and the phone fell out of her hand. Gokudera found the recent calls.

"Ha! You liar!" He dropped her wrist and shoved the evidence in her face. "You expect me to believe your half-assed lies?!"

"Okay, fine." She gave in, too tired to argue. "What of it?"

"Keh," he threw her phone back to her. "I don't care for your reasons. I'm just good with being the Tenth's right-hand man."

"You're not bothered with me masquerading as a boy?"

"That's right, it doesn't concern me. And don't bother me about keeping your secret, I won't tell anyone."

She blinked, a small smile tugging at her lips. Despite his demeanour he was a dependable guy. "Thank you, Hayato. Good night." Perhaps he expected more of a fight out of her given their history, but either way Gokudera would leave the blonde to her own devices. It's not like he was concerned about her lax behaviour. No, he was too overjoyed at having passed Reborn's test and staying by Tsuna indefinitely.

She kept slinking in the direction of Tsuna's house when her phone beeped once. She still hadn't silenced the damn thing. Groaning, she slid it open and made a 'huh' sound at the message.

_Turn around._

Doing so she came to face Hibari. "Good evening, Kyouya. What are you doing out on this fine night? Me? I'm just taking a stroll—"

"I don't care for your reasons," he cut in, irritated. "I assume you have the files? Took you longer than expected. Maybe I'll have to replace you."

Kira shrugged. "I've got them. And go ahead if you want to. Means nothing to me." She dropped the USB into his palm and turned to leave when a tonfa stopped one inch from her nose.

"You know, the baby said if I put up with you it'll be worth my time."

"Did he?" _What the hell did Reborn get me into now…?_

"Yes," came the low reply, it was almost a hiss. "But all I see is a weak herbivore that can barely support his own weight. So tell me, is it true that you eliminated three thugs this morning from Kokyou High?"

She groaned again out of irritation and frustration at being kept from sleep. Throwing her hands up in exasperation she almost screamed, "Okay, so I'm weak! I don't care. Everyone's bothering me with their stupid problems because they don't know jack squat about anything, and then have the audacity to meddle and add more shit to my workload that I don't care for or need—then they confront me about a favour just to piss me off! What the hell do you want from me you freak?!"

She left Hibari there in stunned silence, but it didn't last long. Apparently the racket they made during that outburst wasn't enough and four Disciplinary Committee members stepped out of the corners from adjacent streets. Kira rubbed at her temple, her temper getting worse and worse by the second. They each had weapons too. Kira hadn't imagined that Hibari couldn't even take one day of suspense. Honestly, at this point she didn't know what to do. If she kept putting her adrenal gland through this stress she was going to break for good. What choice did she have then? Get beaten up?

With sudden resolve she made a break for it and scaled the wall to her left, running atop it while trying desperately not to fall. Her fatigue was catching up with her and the voices were slowly becoming a thing in the distance. This did little to comfort her for she knew that if Hibari wanted to track her down he would have his way. Still, that didn't mean she was going to give up without trying getting out of it first. After making about a dozen turns and jumps she climbed down for better coverage and resisted smashing her head against a wall because she was hopelessly lost. Still, she memorized the entire map of Japan beforehand and if she could find a street sign… where were the street signs? _Guess they didn't find it necessary to put any here. Lucky me._

It took her at least thirteen more minutes of wandering to find the main street and from there on she relaxed. Her trip back was thankfully uneventful and without so much as a 'I'm back!' she collapsed seconds after she closed the front door.

For the first time in a long time, she had a dream. It replayed the events of the day and she was an observer. Unable to interact or speak, she stood by idly like a ghost and then it hit her when her confrontation with Gokudera occurred. It was entirely possible that Reborn messed with her phone, as he probably did, but if Gokudera were to call her, then her work phone should have rang. So why did her private phone ring instead? The unsettling feeling grew and she swallowed the lump in her throat. Reborn messed with his phone as well. That was the only plausible explanation. Was it because she demanded that he not interfere with her and Hibari? The scene faded out as she was shaken awake by Nana.

"Kira-kun, are you alright?"

Sleep still present in her limbs, Kira sat up slowly and nodded, letting Nana help her to Tsuna's room. She thanked her and took a glance at the clock; it was 6:30 AM. She curled up in a blanket but could not fall back asleep so she twirled her phone in her hands. There was a text message waiting for her.

_Heard you bought a warehouse._

* * *

><p>Thank you everyone for reviewing! :D<p>

Props to **666AnimeFan666, novella12nite, Neko G, Juliedoo, XxdarkknightxX, PancakeRave, leogirl321, **and **kat716**.

It's been far too long. I must finish what I started. This story is going to get outta control once it becomes truly AU C:

Leave a review and let me know what you think so far :) I love hearing from you lovelies~


	6. Three's a Crowd

**Chapter 6**

**Three's a Crowd**

Kira sipped her orange juice and stalked the hallways looking for Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto. Reborn told her they would need a secret hideout, which was practically code for 'training in real life situations', and she really didn't want to get caught up in it. The last time she did he broke her nose.

_But at this point_… she had already come to class late, got herself into something called the Environmental Club and two days of detention for bringing welding tools to school. It was not her day.

And now she was supposed to attend some meeting with said club to arrange rooms. Even though she declined, they forced her into it, saying she was their official Italian representative. When she told them to drag Gokudera into it they said no thank you faster than you could blink.

_Ugh, this is so troublesome. I could be surveying the tunnels right now… or stealing Tsunayoshi's lunch._ Anything was better than going to some lame meeting. That's why she sent Fedele to all of hers. However, her feet still carried her to the second floor, and at the end of the hallway she reluctantly opened the door to a meeting she was late to.

"Ah! There's our representative for Italy! Go tell him Kizuna!"

Kira deadpanned at the group. "Tell him what? And to whom?" Oddly enough, the entire room tensed up. No one made eye contact with her and Hibari was glaring at the group and _oh_… but out of pure reflex, she raised a hand and waved at him.

Surprisingly, he smirked and returned the greeting. "Yo."

_Someone's in a better mood today._

Feeling somewhat happier now that she was acknowledged, Kira smiled at her club. "What do you want me to tell Kyouya?"

Right when she finished speaking, the room became deathly silent. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard until someone broke it whispering, "Did he just say Kyouya?"

Confused, Kira looked at Hibari to see if she had done something unthinkable, but he didn't seem to mind, having not even moved an inch.

"Yeah so, what did you want me to tell him?"

The leader of the group, Kashiwaki Seito, snapped out of his shock and regained his composure. "It is completely uncalled for the Disciplinary Committee to claim the reception room without consulting the other clubs first; we are against them using it!" They then proceeded to chant how unfair it was, giving Kira a small headache.

"Um, okay. Well, I'm sure he heard you… so," she turned to Hibari, "apparently they don't want you using that room."

The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees… she really didn't care, and they could all sense she didn't want to be here. Well, almost everyone…

"See! Even our Italian representative disagrees with you using that room!"

Kira desperately wanted to scream 'Objection!', but she didn't want to stir up more drama. "Can I leave?"

"No!" her group shouted in unison.

_Okay then…_

"I'll just sit down… and… whaaat?" Her group was now glaring at her and for the love of—what did she do?! "Not to be rude but what do you people want from me?!"

Seito rambled in a higher-than-thou tone, "To officially become a member of our club, you must first pass initiation; get the reception room for the Environmental Club!" When he was done speaking, he looked like he had accomplished something. Kira didn't know or care to know what it was, but she had had enough.

_This is too crazy, I'm out of here._

Without uttering a word, she turned on her heel, walked out of the room, closed the door behind her quietly and headed for the roof.

"I wonder what kind of lunch Nana packed for me today." She grinned at the thought of the delicious cooking, extremely thankful that she didn't have to survive on chips, soda and ice cream anymore. "Hehehe—OUCH! Reborn!"

The tiny hitman flashed a grin, "Ciaossu. So I heard you're in the Environmental Club now."

Kira's brows furrowed and she glared half-heartedly at him. "What are you talking about; you were the one that got me into it in the first place."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"_Kizuna, wait up!"_

_Kira paused in her jog to catch up with Yamamoto and looked at the boy who called her name. Kashiwaki Seito, was it? A second year from class 2-C. "Can I help you?"_

"_As chairman of the Environmental Club, I'd like to formally invite you to join our club!" he practically shouted in her ear._

_Kira pretended to think about it and then faked a sorrowful look, "I'm sorry, but my schedule is all filled up. I don't have time for extracurricular activit—"_

"_I mean I'd love to!" a high-pitched, badly disguised voice came from behind her. "When do I start?"_

_Seito's face lit up like fireworks and he clapped her on the shoulder, laughing haughtily. "Great! I'll meet you in room 2-D with everyone else to discuss the details of room assignments after second period! You won't regret being our Italian representative!"_

_He then sped out of earshot just as Kira reached out to grab his sleeve to drag him back and tell him she wasn't interested. Sighing in defeat, Kira just mumbled to herself, "I'm already regretting it…"_

"And just for the record, you sound nothing like me," she huffed. "What's with the outfit anyway?"

"Heh, you jealous?"

"As if! Euh, whatever, I'm going to meet Tsunayoshi on the roof."

As Kira disappeared behind the door Reborn smirked and got into costume. Today was going to be very interesting indeed.

* * *

><p>"Hey Kira, I've been meaning to ask you something…"<p>

"Hm?" she turned to Tsuna, mouth full of food. Chewing was for the weak.

"What's going on with you and the Disciplinary Committee? I mean, you're a member now, so what does that mean for us?"

She hummed and tapped her fingers against her chin. She wasn't sure, but from what Hibari called her it didn't look like Tsuna needed to worry. "I don't think anything will change. It's not like I tried to join; things are just happening out of my control. Anyway, it's nothing to worry about."

Tsuna looked visibly relieved, but even that tiny moment of reprieve was a luxury because the sharp sting of Reborn's costume struck. Uh-oh, she recognized that costume.

"Tenth!"

"Tsuna!"

_He cannot catch a break._

"Reborn, what the hell!"

"Ciaossu! How do you like my fall costume?" He seemed quite pleased with himself.

"I don't!"

Reborn just jabbed the spikes deeper into Tsuna's arm. Ouch. Yes, this was what she needed. Watching Gokudera and Yamamoto freak out and try to calm Tsuna was the funny she lacked. Then, immediately after Reborn announced that they needed a hideout, Tsuna fainted.

"We'll just have to carry him," Reborn remarked before turning sharply and making a beeline for the door.

Kira followed suit. "Not it!"

"Che, you don't deserve to carry the Tenth anyway!" Gokudera shouted after her. Lucky for him Yamamoto was there to hold doors open and generally help indirectly after being barked at.

When they arrived, Reborn and Kira were nowhere in sight. Unaffected, the three went in and flopped Tsuna on the couch.

"So this is the reception room. I didn't know we had one." Yamamoto took in the room with open delight. Gokudera scoffed.

"Of course _you_ wouldn't know."

Yamamoto just laughed it off. "By the way, where's Reborn and Kira?"

Gokudera shrugged. "How should I know?"

It wasn't long before things turned ugly.

Kira peeked around the corner of the door frame and watched in fascination as Hibari was shoving Gokudera and Yamamoto out the window. _He really is insane._

It got even better as Tsuna went into underwear mode and smacked Hibari with a slipper. Oh god, she was _so close_ to laughing and snorting. This was too much.

"Come out, Kira."

She covered her mouth but could not stop the snickers and waved at Hibari. "Hey guys."

Hibari didn't look upset. Actually he looked a bit happy. Maybe because he found a strong fighter. "Do you have business with me?"

Reborn's eyes glinted. Shit. "I don't, but Kira does." With that, he fell backwards out the window and disappeared entirely. Figures.

Kira was once again lost for action, so she decided it was best to just leave.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Um, out?" she replied, in a bit of a daze. She suddenly felt tired.

"The infant said you had business with me."

"I don't know what he's talking about." She resumed her exit when she was stopped again.

"Doesn't matter. I have something to tell you."

That piqued her interest and she turned around, curiosity shining in her eyes. "What is it?"

"That environmental club you're in—"

"Oh…" so this is where it was going. "Yeah, about that, I'm not really a member."

"Don't interrupt me," he frowned, though there was a lack of any real discontent. "It doesn't matter what clubs you're in, but if it interferes with your duties then there will be severe consequences."

She pursed her lips and thought about it for a moment. This was a chance to get out of this insanity. Future family member or not she didn't want to be running errands for him. "About that actually…" she shifted, nervous. He was _really_ unpredictable. "Do I really have to be a part of the Disciplinary Committee? I really don't have time for any extracurriculars."

The atmosphere morphed immediately. She didn't know how to describe the feeling, but it felt like he was going to chain her to the floor and let her slowly starve to death until she agreed to stay.

"Do you have a death wish, herbivore?"

_Shit, shit, shit. Okay. Run? No, he'd catch me._

"No, no, it's not what you think," she began backing up hesitantly as he stalked forward, murder in his eyes. "Like I said, I'm just super busy and…" It was hard to speak when there was a tonfa pressed into your throat and you were practically one with the wall.

"I'll ask again, do you have a death wish?" _Because I can grant that_.

She gulped. Then, with renewed determination, she took the tonfa in both hands and with what was probably the last burst of adrenalin of the week, pushed it away from her. "I'll make you a deal."

He didn't move to strike her down. Good sign, good sign.

"You call me by my name, and I'll stay."

_Don't even like vegetables that much_.

His eyes shifted away and he retracted his tonfas. Was he really thinking about it? Then, to her astonishment, he agreed. Reborn fed him magic pills, didn't he? There was no other explanation.

Not thinking over her actions, Kira beamed at him with joy. "Really? I wanna hear you say it!"

Hibari merely gave her a look that said 'not on your life'. She sulked.

"But you just said you would!"

He just picked up a book from his desk and began to read it on the couch. Oh come on.

"Kyouya, please?" she crouched at the arm of the couch and peeked over. He shot her an annoyed look and his hand twitched for his tonfa. "I'll leave right now if you do."

"Get out, Kizuna."

_Not the answer I was looking for, but I'll take it_.

"See you later then." Baby steps, she told herself. She'll get him to call her by her first name soon. Although… _why did he agree so easily? Something's not right_. She didn't have much time to dwell on it though when a pair of hands covered her eyes.

"Guess who?"

Kira let out a massive grin. "Dino!"

"How's my favourite genius?" He laughed as she hugged him tightly. "Hey, hey, hey don't try to break me in half!"

"It's been hell!" she screamed into his shirt. Luckily there was no one on the roof seeing as lunch had just ended.

She didn't even notice as the school emptied as she and Dino caught up on the past few months. A lot had happened—mostly on her side—and she spent a good hour raging about how much crap she had to deal with again.

"Anyway, what's going on with you? I heard your last mission was killer."

It felt so nice to be speaking with Dino again. He was one of the few who didn't drive her crazy. He never patronized her and put up with her temper even when they didn't know each other well. Everyone liked Dino and Dino liked everyone. She envied his charm but was more than happy to be one of his closest friends.

"So what made you come to Japan early?" she rocked back and forth sitting crossed legged.

Dino's face turned into a kind of sheepish and guilty smile. "You're not going to like it…"

Her face fell. "No. No."

"I can explain—"

She threw her hands up and groaned, completely exasperated. "No, no, no. Noooo."

"Reborn, he—"

"I am not going to that girl's birthday party!" she half-screamed and stood up. Dino stood up as well and paced with her whilst trying to calm her down.

"It won't be that bad…" he reasoned.

She covered her face in her hands. "Have you even met this girl? Do you know how irritating she is?!"

"You're overreacting," he tried to soothe her. "Now come on, calm down. Caaalm down…"

She took deep breaths. "Okay. I'm fine. I'm good."

"Alright, now sit." Kira was still pacing a bit, shuffling around on the spot. "Sit, _Kira_."

That worked.

She looked him straight in the eye. "What exactly did Reborn tell you?"

He shrugged and looked off to the side, twiddling his thumbs a bit. "Uh, that you're…"

She leaned closer, eyes narrowed. "I'm what?"

"First promise me you won't do anything rash." She swallowed the urge to say no and nodded. He took a gulp. Just what in the world was going on? "Reborn says you're temporarily suspended from your duties." The second those words left his mouth Dino braced for impact, but it never came. Kira was in a daze.

Suspended?

She let out a small laugh. "I'm… suspended."

"Temporarily…"

"From my _duties_?"

Dino could detect the growing pitch in her voice. "Please keep your voice down!" He glanced around nervously. They really didn't need to attract attention with a screeching teenager right now. "Kira!"

"This can't be happening. This can't be happening," she repeated in a mantra, eyes wide, unblinking.

"Kira, that's not the whole story," Dino sat beside her and tried in vain to break her trance. "It's not as bad as it seems, really. Reborn says you're still on this particular mission and we're not separating you from your equipment or anything. You'll just be taking a break from all the stress."

She slowly turned her head towards him. "How long is this going to last?"

He cringed. "A year or two…"

Her head fell between her knees and she had to swallow another scream. That meant three years. What the hell was she supposed to do for three years if not work? "And I just bought a warehouse!"

"Well, the Vongola bought a warehouse…" he started and trailed off when she shot him a warning look. "I mean you did. What are you going to do with it? It's still yours."

The anger phase over, she was trying to think of how to get rid of it ASAP. Why pay taxes on something you won't use? "You wanna take it off my hands?"

Dino blinked. "What?"

"Please, Dino," she grabbed his sleeve. "Let's trade! That warehouse for Enzo?"

"Sorry, no deal." He took out the turtle and coddled it. "I can't just give him away. Besides," he held it close to her nose, "he still doesn't like you." The turtle made a valiant effort to chomp on her.

"Fine," she pouted. This was so not her day. Defeated, she slump sideways and curled up into a fetal position. "If I'm suspended I might as well curl up and die."

"Well you're halfway there." She gave him another look. "But that doesn't mean you should stay there. Look, there's nothing we can do about it so you might as well make the best of things."

"Uh-huh…"

"No, really," he pulled on her wrists to try to pull her up, but she didn't budge. Weird, she weighed nothing. "Have you gained weight?"

"Are you really calling me fat at a time like this?"

"When have I ever called you fat?" She didn't reply. "That's right. Now come on, don't be a child." When she still didn't acknowledge him he sighed. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Without warning, he picked her up by her armpits and hoisted her over his shoulder. "Oh look at that I guess we're leaving after all."

"I'll go…"

"Hm?" He did not expect her to give up this quickly. "Did you say something?"

"I said I'll go!" she whined. "Now put me down. Do I look like a sack of potatoes?"

He did as told and leaned down to her height, all smiles. "Very proud of you."

She glared at the door to his left. "Shut up. I'm only doing this so people will leave me alone after."

"Whatever you say," he snickered and tousled her hair.

"Hey!"

"Someone's smiling~" he half-sang. She hated when he was right. A world where someone with less skill in math than her was right was not a world she wanted to live in.

"Shut up!"

"You're blushing!"

"I said, shut up!"

"Kizuna." Oh shit. That voice certainly had magical qualities of freezing time. "What do you think you're doing here after hours?"

Kira urged Dino to leave quickly and in a few seconds he was over the side of the roof. Please let his subordinates be nearby.

"I was just leaving," she replied quietly. He so did not buy it.

"Who was that other herbivore with you?" Dino was technically a trespasser.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Just a friend. Nothing to get your panties in a knot over."

He ignored the second sentence. "Are you saying you'll bear his punishment?"

Punishment? Her hand twitched. "Yes, I will," she ground between grit teeth. The universe _so_ owed her!

"Saturday at 8AM, you will begin with cleaning the entire school."

_Oh no. Someone up there is going to get their ass kicked when I die._

Knowing this might very well be the death of her, Kira made a slightly dramatic and fake disappointed sound. "Gee, that's not a good day for me; Reborn has something planned for me. How about next Saturday?"

"…"

"Please?"

A tonfa appeared in his right hand. "You are at the limits of my patience. If you want to earn an extension then fight me."

_Excuse_ _me_?

"Excuse me?"

* * *

><p>A shorter chapter today, but my excuse is that I have essays due and finals to study for. Also it's killing me to delay putting up chapters. Thanks to <strong>Aleiafae, fatesmask<strong> and **dobuki** for reviewing :D I love reading 'em~


	7. Secret Kisses

**Chapter** **7**

**Secret Kisses**

_I am so dead. So dead. I'll never be as dead as I'm going to be right now._ She wished she could move her mouth right now and form words. _I have no more adrenalin left and he's about to kick my ass._

Hibari was growing exponentially irritated at her stunned silence.

_Oh god he's looking. Say something! Anything. _She tried to say something but then remembered she couldn't speak so she tried to smile, but it came out a scared grimace. _That's making a face, not speaking. Shit, his face is getting angrier._

"F-fight? You want me to fight?" she squeaked. "You?"

"I don't like to repeat myself, Kizuna."

_He said my name. Well, kind of, but hey he remembered!_ She covered her mouth with her left hand so he wouldn't see the silly grin. Not a good time to be grinning._ Oh I feel guilty that he's holding up his end of the bargain even though he's going to kill me. Okay gotta actually say something now or else Reborn's going to be planning my funeral tomorrow._

"Um, uh. Well, why?" she stalled, unable to think of an excuse.

"It was you who took out those thugs," he said, eyes narrowed. Kira stopped fidgeting. Bingo.

_Guess there's no use in bullshiting now._ "Yeah, that was me," she admitted. Hibari waited for her to continue, but she didn't know what else to say. What else is there to say? "So? I can't do what I did last time. I'm too tired, too hungry."

Being charged was not one of her expectations. So she did the only thing she could and ran like hell. Unfortunately, being on a roof limited her options. They went around a couple of times before Kira began to get blurry eyed. This was so not good. With her eyes slipping shut she called out the one name that came to mind.

"DINO!"

The feeling of steel colliding with the back of her head knocked her out cold.

* * *

><p>"Who the hell are you?" Hibari snarled at the newcomer. He was with the herbivore before.<p>

As the adult of the situation, Dino just smiled. "A friend of Kira and Reborn."

Hibari was nowhere near done with the fight and was about to take it out on Dino but Dino had already hoisted Kira over his shoulder and was roof hopping. Luckily, Hibari decided they weren't worth the effort. Kira would have to show up to school tomorrow anyway.

* * *

><p>The low throbbing in her head and, well, everywhere, was sufficient to rouse her. Kira vividly remembered passing out on the roof, but she was in Tsuna's room?<p>

"Hey kid, how are you feeling?"

Her ears twitched at the voice. "Dino…" she tried to sit up but got a head-rush and scrunched her eyes shut. Dino quickly moved to hold her up. "W-wha—"

"I heard you and got you out of there. That's the guy, huh?"

"Yeah…" She clutched at her stomach. "I hurt like hell."

Dino's expression grew worried. "Where?"

Her face twisted in pain and she moved a hand to her head. There was a bump. Son of a gun. "Everywhere."

He chuckled and then helped her up. She seemed to weigh a bit more, which was good considering her diet and lifestyle. "After you eat we'll take you to the hospital. Better safe than sorry, right?"

"Right…" Her vision blurred a little, but it came in waves so she could probably stay awake as long as she ate soon. She needed to eat a lot more and she greatly underestimated the amount now that she was off her nutrient pills. Being suspended apparently also included the suspension on the use of said pills. What bullshit.

Nana greeted them cheerily in the kitchen, but her face fell when she saw how Kira could barely walk. They were ushered to a seat and in minutes piles of food appeared. Kira actually had trouble bringing the food to her mouth since her fingers were too shaky to hold up any utensils. The atmosphere turned from slightly worried to near panic.

"Kira-kun, what happened?"

Kira was massaging her temples, trying to get the throbbing to stop. "I don't have my pills… and I can't get them anymore."

Nana wanted to help, but she sensed that prying wasn't the best decision. It wasn't her business and if Kira said she couldn't get them, she obviously already tried.

"Alright, sweetie, but if you need anything just ask, okay?"

"Thank you."

Dino had initially helped her eat until she had enough strength to eat without help, so Dino got up to help Nana prepare more food. Kira was eating enough for three people. It probably was not the best idea to give her so much food since it had been awhile since her stomach had so much to digest all at once. Still, they couldn't not give her food with that look on her face. She really did look half dead with her cheeks sunken in, dark circles under her eyes and half-lidded eyes.

When they arrived at the hospital Kira had drifted off to sleep in Dino's car. Nana volunteered to come but Dino talked her into staying. Kira would need to build her strength and eat another pile of food.

She was taken care of promptly and given a private room. Dino explained her condition as well as he could when they couldn't wake her up. He was allowed to stay only because he seemed to be her only connection at the moment.

Dino was now pacing the room while Kira slept quietly with an IV in her arm. Romario and the others were in the vicinity but they weren't allowed in. Maybe it was the way they were dressed but the head nurse claimed too many people would be detrimental to her condition.

Dino weaved a few lies and now they believed Kira had an extremely fast metabolism that got to her when her part-time jobs kept adding hours. He said she couldn't refuse because it would mean she wouldn't be able to pay rent or eat. This may have been the reason why they gave her such a good room. It faced the garden and had a big window so she could get some fresh air when she woke up.

* * *

><p>Kira stirred in her sleep. The pain was mostly gone, but her stomach was unsettled in a new way. She should have controlled herself, but a more primal part of her took over and she couldn't stop devouring everything. It didn't help that it was delicious.<p>

She wanted to sleep longer but a cold breeze forced her to get up. Her heart was not prepared for what she saw.

"Kyouya…?"

He didn't look at her. Her eyes followed his line of sight to a clipboard.

"Did you open the window?"

He still didn't acknowledge her. He… couldn't be here to finish their fight?

"Look, I'll fight you another day, but you wouldn't try to terminate me in a hospital, would you?"

He finally looked at her. "Don't come to school tomorrow." She stared at him in slight shock. "When you're recovered, come find me." He began walking away but Kira called after him.

"Wait!"

He stopped.

"Why the sudden change of mind? You didn't have a problem with beating me up before even though I was about to pass out."

He glanced over his shoulder and looked her in the eye. "You've barely been honest with me before. Besides, there's nothing to gain from beating someone who's already dead."

With that he swiftly closed the door, not wanting to hear Kira say another word. But that was unnecessary as she laid there thinking about his words. Already dead? Was she really? A small chuckle escaped. "Yeah, he's right…"

"Who's right about what?"

Her eyes focused on the grinning blonde and she propped herself up on her elbows. "Hey. I was just thinking out loud."

"Hmm, about who?" he prodded at her bicep. She ignored it and stared at the wall.

"Hey, do you think I'm already dead?"

A surprised noise came from beside her. Dino stared at her with wide eyes. Where had that come from? "What? Of course not. You're one of the most lively people I know."

She tore her gaze from the wall and down to her lap. Another wave of fatigue washed over her and she felt her eyelids slowly slip shut again. "Really? Thanks…"

Dino blinked at his friend for a few seconds and wondered why she had asked him such a strange question. Just what happened while he went to the bathroom? Then he noticed something; the window was open. _Someone came in here and upset her._ This irritated him greatly. The nurse assured him that no one else would be allowed to visit her in this condition. His eyes narrowed as he thought of the possibilities. Someone Kira knows and obviously doesn't care to follow the rules… ah, of course. "That little skylark…"

* * *

><p>Two days had passed since Kira's incident and she was far from the road to a normal eating habit. However, today she was being even more difficult. Dino was poking at her with a spoonful of stew.<p>

"You need to eat more," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Mhmm," she hummed. Dino had resorted to doing ridiculous things like making airplane and train sounds while poking at her lips with the spoon. She grit her teeth together and turned her head, making the spoon crash into her cheek and the contents onto her shirt. Brilliant.

"Oops."

She shrugged lightly and made a noise that sounded like "whatever". Dino went to scoop up another spoonful before he noticed that Kira hadn't bothered to clean herself up. Something was definitely wrong. He put down the spoon and grabbed Kira's jaw with one hand, turning her head around to face him.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" With his free hand, he took some tissue paper and put it in Kira's hands. At least he didn't have to coax her into cleaning up.

She didn't look up to meet his eyes. "I don't… I—" she sighed, somewhat defeated and pried his hand off her face. "I don't really want to get better."

Dino wasn't all that surprised. He leaned back in his chair and looked at her with a stern expression. "Look, I know you're accustomed to your pills and you hate having to eat so much, but this is all for getting Hibari off your back, right?"

She perked up a bit at the mention of Hibari. "Oh yeah, Kyouya still wants to fight me… I wonder if I can beat him." She was mumbling offhandedly but Dino caught it.

He weighed what Reborn told him about Hibari and against Kira, even in her top form, he would probably win. That is, if she really didn't care about fighting him. "You don't want to fight him at all, do you?"

She shook her head miserably. He sighed. "But you have to win, is what you're thinking."

"I don't know how to lose to him, Dino," she bit her lip. "From what I've heard and seen, his definition of winning a fight is breaking bones and putting people into comas."

"That certainly is a problem…" he drawled out. "And there's no way you two could reach some form of agreement on a less painful loss?"

"Well I haven't spoken to him since the hospital…" she didn't need to continue for him to get the message. If she had thought it was at all possible, she would have done it by now. "Dino, I can't beat him but I can't lose either. What am I doing to do?"

"Go to a birthday party."

Dino waved at Reborn.

"Ciaossu!"

"Hey Reborn," came a muffled greeting. Kira had buried her face in her arms and was splayed out on the table. "Today's already Saturday?"

When no reply came, she lifted her head and looked around. _What the hell._ Ame was standing on the other side of the dining table, face red. _I'm going to kill him. I'm actually going to kill him._ She knew where Kira lived now. Kira's eye twitched.

"Hello, Ame-chan." Where had the 'chan' come from? Kira didn't add any suffixes to _anyone's_ name. This eating real food business was getting to her.

Ame's face got even redder and she stuttered out a greeting. From Kira's left Dino coughed none too subtly and excused himself, feigning digestive distress. _Really?_ Her eye twitched again and she braced herself for… well, something normal that she had yet to experience. Were birthday parties of normal kids like mafia ones? She snorted. No way in hell.

Today, she was finally able to wear her own clothes. Unfortunately she didn't know if the occasion would be formal, causal or whatever and began getting a bit nervous. Kira's eyes fell to her choice of clothing and felt the same feeling of inadequacy when Ciare was examining her hair. "Hey, Ame." Said girl looked at her with wide eyes at the sight of Kira in _extremely_ close proximity. "Do I look okay?"

Ame nodded rapidly and tried to hide her blush. Kira tilted her head to the side and tried to get a look at her face. What was with this girl? Unbeknownst to Kira, the way she was standing, with one arm on the doorframe to steady herself, leaning over Ame with cool eyes and a lax expression was making herself look like a predator ready to pounce. "Do I really?" She hadn't meant for it to come out so low, but she was still exhausted and ready to sleep standing up.

* * *

><p>Dino had been watching from around a corner and decided this was a good time to step in before Kira fell on the girl. "Kira, can I talk to you for a second?"<p>

Kira's eyes weren't really seeing anymore and she nodded slowly. Now that Ame didn't have Kira looking at her she was able to get a good look at Kira. Definitely thin, but the clothes didn't reveal just how thin. Kira was wearing long sleeves and baggy jeans so her figure wouldn't show. Not that there was much to hide anyway.

"My apologies, Ame-chan. Kira hasn't been feeling the best today either." Kira was basically half-asleep by now with one arm over Dino's shoulder. "Do you mind waiting in the living room while I get him some medicine?"

"N-no, of course not!"

Once she moved out of sight Dino picked Kira up and took her to Tsuna's room. "What a mess. How am I going to wake her?" And should he? He was pretty much caught up and didn't understand why Reborn was pushing Kira to go to a silly birthday party so much. I mean, the whole vacation thing seemed a thing in the distance. "How is this a vacation when you're being pushed so hard?" He frowned when she began twisting and turning, a cold sweat forming on her forehead. Dino was never good at handling seeing people he cared about in pain and not be able to do anything about it. He was about to go tell Ame that Kira was really sick and couldn't go when a knock came at the door.

"Ame-chan…"

She was looking at the floor, embarrassed to have come up when asked to stay in the living room. Dino couldn't care less though.

"About Kira-kun…" she looked up and her eyes turned downcast at the sight of Kira in obvious pain, almost convulsing on the futon. "Please give this to him for me!" She held out a letter. Dino blinked in surprise. Kira sure had a lot of admirer's here… was Japan was a good idea after all?

"I'll be sure he gets it," Dino smiled at the fumbling girl. She was cute, and sincere. It was a shame Kira had her fooled. Poor kid, if Kira was a man she would really like Ame.

She left quickly and Dino closed the door, worn-out. It wasn't even noon yet. He set the letter down on top of her work letters so she would be sure to see it. "Kira…" he wondered if making her go cold turkey was the best course of action. She could have been weaned from her pills, so why the extra agony? He wanted to take her back to Italy so she could go at her own pace; he still had her stash of emergency pills in a villa for when she would unceremoniously announce she would be staying for a while. "You can't possibly fight anyone in this condition."

Just then, her phone vibrated. Curiosity got the better of him and he read the message. It was from Hibari Kyouya:

**I'm getting tired of waiting.**

Dino wanted to say something back to the guy. Tell him to leave Kira alone or something! But… he growled in annoyance at his own inability to do anything. Why did such a dangerous man choose Kira to smash up of all people?! She was already in so much pain. She could barely do things for herself at times when her migraines were too much. _Why, why, why does she have to fight h—_

He began typing a reply:

**Kira will not be fighting you. I will take his place. **

**I'm a better fighter anyway.**

**Name a time and place.**

The screen soon glowed with a reply and Dino smirked, satisfied that he was able to come up with something to help. "I'll be back soon."

* * *

><p>She could hear hushed voices as her hand twitched. What happened?<p>

"Kira, how do you feel?"

The unmistakable voice of Dino brought her attention to focus. He was holding her up so she could lean against his chest. And across the room was… "What are you doing here?"

Hibari stood leaning against a wall with a scratch on his left cheek. "I wanted to see for myself."

She understood immediately. He didn't know the extent of her condition. "So you were worried?"

She felt a slight rumbling against her back and realized Dino was trying not to laugh. Hibari glared at Dino, daring him to make another sound. Deciding to humour him, Dino stopped laughing and just grinned.

"What the hell happened to you?" Hibari demanded, eyes narrowing. Did he suspect she had fallen victim to a gang of thugs or something?

She cleared her throat and tried to sit up straighter, but a pain near her waist made her cringe and Dino immediately moved her back against his chest. Hibari's finger twitched at the scene. Kira let out a pained moan but managed eye contact with Hibari. "I did this to myself, kind of."

"You did not…" Dino muttered so that only she could hear it. This made her smile and Hibari's finger twitched again.

She continued when Hibari didn't say anything. "I was on this diet that wasn't exactly good for me, but it was convenient so I didn't really bother to change my habits until this new routine caught up with me." She was looking around the room sheepishly now at having realized just how silly she had been about eating food when she actually said it out loud. When she looked up again, Hibari wasn't looking at her. He was staring out the window.

"I expect you in class soon." She looked at him, surprised. What? She was still half dead, and why was he changing the subject? "You _will_ fight me, so you better get acquainted with your new routine." Her eyes followed him as she strode over to the window, jumped out and rode away on a motorcycle.

"What was that?" she asked absentmindedly.

"I have something to tell you…" Dino's voice came from directly beside her ear. It was only then she noticed she was still plastered to him. Not that it was bad. Not bad at all.

"What is it?" she asked, eyes closed, leaning into him more. She was so cold, and he was so warm… why was she so cold? It had been so long since she felt this cold and it scared her.

"Here." He handed her the cellphone and she looked at the conversation thread. Dino didn't expect her to just lock the phone and toss it aside without berating him for going through her messages, but she did. "You're not mad?"

"I would have told you anyway. Besides," she shifted positions so that her head laying in his lap, and stared at his chin. "When have you ever shown discretion for my privacy?"

"True…"

"But Dino—"

"—yeah?—"

"—I still have to fight him?"

Dino sighed and looked down, smiling but Kira thought it didn't reach his eyes. "I tried my best, but he's stubborn. Even when I beat him he insisted that he fights you. Until then, I will fight him to keep him entertained."

Kira turned her head and buried her face into Dino's abdomen. Really… that jerk. He was looking for a fight and he got one. She smirked. He had gotten way more than he had bargained for and it was so much better than Kira, so why was he still insisting on fighting a weakling like herself?

"I don't get him, Dino."

"What don't you get?"

"Everything," she breathed out. "Why wasn't he satisfied with fighting you? Losing to you? Now he has a challenge, but—" she grabbed at her hair in frustration. Warm hands covered hers and moved it away from her head before she ripped off her scalp.

"Calm down, we have lots of time to prepare you now at least." Dino shifted again and moved her to sit between his legs with her head on his chest. "But for now you should rest." Kira didn't complain and grabbed the discarded blanket, covering them with it. When she was asleep, Dino put his head in his hands and breathed deeply.

What had he done? He should have just let her sleep on the futon. But his impulses had gotten the better of him. When Hibari was in the same room he felt his pulse quicken when Kira leaned against him, and the barely noticeable ticks in Hibari's hand just made him more confident. His thoughts drifted back to an hour ago when he had Hibari at his mercy. The skylark's eyes said he hadn't won since he was still alive, but Dino declared the fight over. It was odd to say the least that said skylark would want to kill Kira one moment and then check up on her the next. Well, whatever. He wrapped his arms around Kira and careful not to wake her, kissed the side of her forehead.

"Sweet dreams, Luci."

* * *

><p>Hey guys, sorry for not updating in so long. Things have been really hectic. Feels like I live on a rollercoaster. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and let me know what you think. I've decided to change my original angle with this story. Oh and before I forget, I must thank a few people for reviewing! Shout-outs to <strong>fatesmask, Ryanrene97, Lady Syndra<strong> and** niacat2000!**


	8. Moving Out?

**Chapter 8**

**Moving Out?**

Who was speaking? Kira felt warm. Warmer than she felt in days. _So nice…_ the voice she realized belonged to Dino. Had he noticed her stirring?

"Did I wake you?"

"No," she mumbled, snuggling deeper into the blanket. "What time is it?"

"Almost 4 o'clock."

Kira hummed deep in her throat to acknowledge that she heard him, but other than that she made no indication of getting up or staying awake.

"Hey, Luci—"

"Don't," she cut in. She felt Dino's body stiffen for a second at having forgotten her persona. "I'm still Kira…"

"Sorry."

They stayed in silence with Kira awake but too lazy to get up, and Dino still acting as back support. The silence was broken when a frenzy of people burst through the door.

"Kira-san!"

_Tsunayoshi…_

She cracked open an eye and moved to sit up. The loss of warmth made her shudder, an action that made Dino want to pull her back in. "Hey," she replied, voice still low and mellow. "These your friends?"

Tsuna quickly introduced her to Sasagawa Kyoko and Miura Haru. Her lips curled into a smile when Haru empathically told the story of how he had saved her from drowning. Wow, being out for a few days sure made her miss a lot. The girls had heard that Kira was 'deathly ill' and insisted on helping her get better.

"That's very sweet of you two," Kira tried to smile, but it felt more condescending than grateful. Kyoko and Haru only beamed back at her though. They had brought over a huge buffet upon discovering that the reason she was sick was due to poor nutrition. Then something made the room freeze. Without really thinking, Dino had picked up a piece of sushi and gently guided it to Kira's mouth. The spell was broken when a high pitched 'KYAAAAAA!' sounded from Haru. Kyoko also had her hand over her mouth, eyes wide but smiling. Tsuna just looked… like Tsuna.

"D-Dino-san!" Tsuna stuttered, unable to think of anything else to say. Dino froze as he realized what he just did and tried to look nonchalant.

"Relax, Tsuna. Just a little culture difference."

Tsuna looked like he was about to calm down when another voice shook the room.

"THAT'S A LIE, CAVALLONE!"

Kira cringed at the volume but pointedly ignored the raging hurricane and kept eating. It didn't help that Yamamoto just laughed it off and said there was nothing wrong with being nice to an injured friend.

"Why's it so crowded in here anyway?!"

"You!" Haru pointed at Gokudera accusingly. Kira blinked. Something more happen? He glowered at her and Yamamoto had to restrain him in case he did something rash.

"Did I miss something?" Kira asked with half-lidded eyes. Digesting took more energy than she remembered.

"N-no, it's nothing!" Tsuna tried frantically to reassure her. "They just don't get along too well."

"Uh-huh…" she observed them, amused at their antics. Then something Gokudera said struck a chord in her. Crowded. Where had she heard that before?

"_Did you hear? The environmental club got trashed because they crowded near Hibari!"_

"_That's so intense. Didn't they know better?"_

"_I guess they just didn't believe Hibari would be able to do that."_

"_That's ridiculous. He's done worse things, and besides, it's common knowledge by now that Hibari hates crowds."_

Hibari hated crowds… was she considered a crowd? _Ack, why do I even care? His presence is suffocating._ But it was something. Normally, she could just tune people out and forget they were there. _What's going on with my head? Why am I even thinking about the guy that wants to kill me?_ She stared at the chopsticks in her hand and didn't notice Dino waving another piece of sushi in front of her. _So what if I notice him? The guy is abnormal. Everyone probably feels the same._

"Kira?" She finally snapped out of her thoughts and noticed the sushi.

"Oh." Dino had a concerned look on his face but didn't pry and simply fed her the sushi. "Thanks."

"You zoned out and they thought they should give you some space."

"Huh?" She looked around the empty room. Well, as empty as it could be. It was really crowded. She suddenly felt a pang of guilt for crashing into Tsuna's life. Also, she did say she wouldn't be staying here for long. _Just until I find my own place…_

"Is your fever going up again?"

"Wha—?" A strong hand clasped over her forehead and pulled her back into a hard chest. "I'm fine, Dino. Really."

He was reluctant to let her go, but held back his impulse. "Just checking."

"It's fine. So, we didn't get to finish our talk before." She turned around so they were sitting face to face. "Where are you staying, anyway?"

"I have a base here."

"Base?"

"Well, more like mansion."

She pondered that for a moment. It sounded doable.

"Where?"

Dino blinked. He knew where this was going. "Don't you have to help train the Vongola Tenth?"

"I'm _suspended_ _from_ _my_ _duties_. All of them."

This might have been the best or worst decision of his life, but he found himself agreeing. Kira was so happy that she launched herself at him in what would have been a bear hug if she were stronger. "You're going to have to take care of me now," she snickered, teasing him. It was usually the other way around since Dino was such a klutz and Kira surprisingly highly coordinated.

* * *

><p>"Hey guys," Kira peeked into the living room. "I have news."<p>

"Ah, Kira-kun, please come sit. We're making pasta for you!" Haru and Kyoko smiled.

"Wow, thanks guys." It was nice to have a meal with Kyoko and Haru, Kira realized at the end of the day. She was surprised by how much she enjoyed their company. Well, it may have not been that surprising since she was normally surrounded by grumpy mafiosos, not that she wasn't grumpy, but it didn't help. Now all she had to do was tell Tsuna she was moving out and get on with whatever Reborn and the Ninth wanted.

"Hey, Tsunayoshi," she peeked around the doorframe. Tsuna was dazing off with a pile of homework in front of him. "Tsunayoshi."

He snapped to attention and broke out into smile. "Kira-san, how are you feeling? You look a lot healthier now."

Kira doubted that she was noticeably different at all but held her tongue. She knew speaking without thinking wasn't one of her best traits and this one was particularly annoying since it got her into some bad situations. "Thanks. Were you here all this time while your stalker and the love of your life were downstairs?" Shit.

Tsuna blushed a deep crimson red, but he didn't get upset. "I-it's not like that!" It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her. She snickered and sat down beside him.

"Chill out, that's not what I wanted talk to you about." She absentmindedly flipped through some of his homework and began marking up the pages with pen. "As you probably know by now, Dino and I go way back. And I remembered that I said I would find my own place ASAP."

"Kira-san..."

"So I'm moving in with Dino. His place has enough room that it'll be like I'm not there at all." She finally looked up from his notebooks and was taken back by the look on his face. She hadn't been here that long and was more of a disturbance than anything, but he was kind of sad. "Hey, hey, don't tell me you're actually going to miss me?" she teased and poked at him.

He flushed again and leaned away from her jabbing. "I don't know... I've just gotten sort of used to it I guess. I mean, without you here Reborn..."

"Ah," she drawled out. "I totally forgot about Reborn. Yeah, if I'm gone then 100% of his energy is going to be focused on you at home."

They sat in silence for a moment before a lump of Italian came crashing through the door. And by crashing it was more like tripping and flattening Tsuna.

"I just love your entrances. You should make a montage," Kira remarked sarcastically. The two were in too much pain to make a retort though. Dino had successfully smashed his forehead against Tsuna's nightstand and Tsuna's arm made a weird sound upon collison. "I smell a trip to the hospital~"

* * *

><p>It was three hours to midnight and Kira stood with her arms crossed staring sternly at two klutzes laying in their shared room. "Now what do you have to say for yourself?"<p>

Dino groaned and Tsuna looked like he wanted to scream that it wasn't his fault. And it wasn't but come on, how was he supposed to become a great mafia boss with the reflexes of a dead cat?

"Anyway, you two reflect and I'll go pack." She didn't give them a chance to respond and closed the door none too lightly behind her. _Wonder why he was here last time. Can't imagine someone like him getting sick. And he definitely didn't have any injuries._ She drove back and slumped against the basement hallway. Packing was never her strong point. Manual labour. Gah. Now that she was here, she felt a small tinge of sadness for leaving. A knock on the door stirred her.

"Kira-kun?"

"Hello, Nana-san."

Nana smiled at her and sat beside her. "How are you feeling?"

"Great," Kira lied. "Kyoko and Haru's food works miracles. Tsunayoshi and Dino are being looked after well too."

Nana looked at her like she knew exactly what Kira was thinking, and she just might have. "That's wonderful. I'm glad you're taking some time off. All Tsu-kun has told me was that you work all the time. A teenager should be enjoy life more, right?"

Kira smiled a little. Is that what people thought now? "I wonder what enjoying life is."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that we're going to miss you."

Kira didn't know how to respond. The only other person who had said those words to her was Dino. And it was easy to punch him on the arm and say suck it up, but this was completely different.

"Don't miss me too much," she joked. "I may just keep crashing around here like now since I won't be moving too far away."

That seemed to work as Nana laughed. Kira felt herself grinning as well. "Anyhow, I've got to get packing. Hate this part."

"Wait, Kira-kun. Reborn-kun told me that since you're taking a break from your work that it might be better to not be around it so it'll be easier for you to relax."

Kira froze. What was she supposed to do with it then? Nana seemed to have read her mind.

"I wouldn't feel right letting you do so much by yourself. I mean, those machines look very heavy and delicate. The basement has never been used so it wouldn't make a difference if you left it here."

It was official, Nana was awesome. "Thank you so much," Kira let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "You are a lifesaver. This makes the whole process that much less painful!"

They both knew she was referring more to than just the labour.

* * *

><p>"So this is your place?"<p>

_Mansion, right. More like a freaking castle. And in the middle of freaking nowhere._

"I have to drive half an hour to school now."

"You're the one that wanted to stay here."

"Point taken."

It took all of five seconds to unpack as Kira opened her bag and dumped all her clothes into a pile on the closet floor. "What?"

Dino rubbed his forehead. "Every single time. I put clothes-hangers in there for a reason."

Kira shrugged and flopped down on her bed. "Whatever. It's naptime so goodnight."

"Goodnight."

The door clicked and she drifted off to sleep thinking about a multitude of things.

_Wonder when this suspension is really going to lift. _

_What's Nana making for lunch? _

_I'm going to strangle Verde for his stupid faulty cloaking. _

_Why was Kyouya in the hospital? Crossed off sickness and injuries... was he visiting someone? Well, he did visit me, but he didn't know I was going to be in the hospital or at that hospital._

_Tsunayoshi better not crack under pressure. Reborn is so going to give him double hell now. Stop feeling guilty, this is not something I could have prevented. Just sort of sped it up... damn it._

_Hmm, I do wonder though, how would Kyouya fare in a fight against Reborn? Shit, how would I get out of it? That guy is so going to destroy me. Maybe I can hide out here until he lets it go... yeah, not likely. Don't even know why Reborn was being so nosy in telling him all that stuff. _

Kira didn't get the best nap with thoughts of Hibari beating the daylight haunting her subconscious. When she woke up, a tray of food and water along with a note was on the coffee table.

_You slept through lunch so I thought you would want something to eat when you woke up. I'll be in the study on the fourth floor._

"Not bad." It was a bit of everything she liked, which was surprising since no one usually saw her eat. Not even Dino. Her pills were 99% of her diet so it was even more amazing that he guessed right. Ryebread with hummus, canned fruit, watermelon cubes, and distilled water. Kira was practically a vegetarian, but that was totally accidental. _Now that I think about it, there wasn't any meat yesterday either. Do people here just guess really well or has Reborn been running his mouth again?_

Probably the second.

She tried to finish her food as quickly as possible, but that turned out to still be slow since she wasn't used to chewing and knew that if she didn't chew her food thoroughly, her stomach would throw another riot. Did not look forward to that.

Once she was done, she decided to go find Dino. He was in the study like he said, but he had distinctly forgotten to tell her which room the study was and it took all her willpower to not kick him she found him.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

She spun around in the chair. "I'm so lost, Dino. Without my work, I don't know what I'm going to do."

"What do you want to do?"

"Work."

Dino sighed. It was really impossible to have a proper conversation with her when she was like this. "What about other things teenagers your age do?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know... watch movies? There's video-games, shopping, hanging out with friends, dating-"

"Okay, stop right there and let's get off the crazy train for a moment. I'm not interested in any of these things and you know it."

Dino leaned on his palm and just looked at her like what do you want me to do.

"Maybe I should just go get beat up by Kyouya and keep bothering Tsunayoshi..."

"That's it!"

"What's it?"

"Didn't we say we'd build up your strength so you could fight Hibari?"

She stared at him like he was crazy. And he was. He really was. "Have you been taking your medication?"

"I'm not crazy," Dino whined. "Come on, you'll have something to work towards and it'll be exciting for you since you've never been physically strong before. Doesn't this interest you at all?"

_The klutz has a point._

"Fine, you're on. I'll play your little death game."

Dino had a face splitting grin on. Kira's eye twitched. Seriously, why was he so happy? She was barely paying attention as Dino began ranting about how she could best recover so they could start training. He was going to 'remake' her. _He should make YouTube fitness videos_... she snickered. Dino had the energy for it.

For the next two weeks she followed a rigid schedule Dino personally divised. Which meant that she didn't trust it at all and wrote a new one. It was pathetic how she was rebelling so much when he tried to introduce new foods to her. It was like watching a giant baby learning how to eat. Except this baby could throw a world-class hissy fit. By the end of the first week he had expanded her food groups to include a lot of vegetables, but no meat.

"I'm not against eating meat," she said, exasperated and pushed the plate away.

"Then prove it to me. Just one bite." Dino pushed the plate back.

She stared at the offending piece of food. It was a simple hamburger patty. It smelled nice and everything, but the texture threw her off. Maybe she _was_ against eating meat. Reluctantly, she took a bite and began chewing. Then she spat it out. She looked at Dino.

"..."

"Fine, you don't have to eat meat."

"Thank you."

For the rest of day Dino left her to own devices. She still hadn't been back to school yet. Not that it was a big deal. Tsuna did have the heart to tell her that a test was coming up though. _Tomorrow they were going to have some pre-midterm preparation tests. Sounds like everyone is getting really worried._ Apparently it would be very similar to the midterm and what you got on these tests would indicate your midterm mark. _Tsunayoshi must be freaking out. Reborn is probably at the height of his patience now._

She decided to pay a visit to Namimori. It was lunch by the time she got there and she made a beeline for the roof. _Eh? Haru and... is that Bianchi? Wow, I missed a lot._

"Yo, Tsunayoshi." Tsuna stopped mid-mediator between Gokudera and Yamamoto to look for the voice. "Catch." The soda landed on his head and dropped into his hands.

"Kira-san, are you well enough to be back in school?"

"Hey, don't worry about me. Dino has been doing a pretty good job at making sure I get my nutrition."

Bianchi and Haru left early when a staff member came up and saw the two strange girls, and Kira could not be more thankful because she had a bit of trouble getting along with Bianchi. They didn't necessarily dislike each other, it was more of a struggle for Reborn's attention on Bianchi's part and Kira didn't understand it. Thus, she was usually blatantly saying how weird and kind of stupid it was to be so obsessed with someone. Horrible mistake.

Tsuna caught her up with the past two weeks and Kira had to stop him mid-story.

"Wait a minute, did you say Rokudo Mukuro?"

Tsuna nodded.

Ice ran through her veins as her body froze up. Holy flipping shit. _No fucking way._ Panic began swelling in her chest as she struggled to find the right words. _Tsunayoshi took care of him momentarily so it's okay. I still have time. Oh my god though I am so going to die. Two homicidal maniacs are after me holy shit holyshitholyshit._ Now would be a good time to go into hiding, but she didn't have any means of defending herself if he found her. And judging by his trip to Japan he wouldn't have too much trouble with that. Kira didn't notice the looks she was getting as she was too busy have a mental breakdown.

"Tsunayoshi, did Mukuro mention anything weird? You know, anything about a girl?"

They looked thoughtful for a moment. "Come to think of it..."

"...he did say something about a girl..."

"...a traitor or something?"

They looked at each other and looked at Kira. Her muscles seized up. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"But," Tsuna started, "Mukuro was taken away by those guys to some high-security dungeon. I don't remember too clearly."

Kira excused herself and went back to her car. If Mukuro was here and he saw Reborn, then that means he knew she was here. After all these years, he was going to take his revenge. _Trident wielding maniac against a skinny little girl? Wow, my odds suck. And before I face him I have to deal with Kyouya._ Ah, maybe he was in?

She slid from the driver's seat and quietly made her way to the reception room. No one. Strange. Where had her first homicidal maniac disappeared off to?

* * *

><p>Hey guys, thanks for your patience. Lots of things have been going on but I hope this chapter answered some of your questions. The plot thickens! What does Kira have to do with Mukuro and where the hell is Hibari? D: Shoutouts to <strong>Ryanrene97, Angelic Fluffle, Sora Rai, purpleicecrystals,<strong> and **Rikkai and hyotei lover** for the wonderful reviews! You guys make my day C:


	9. Moonlight Shadow

**Chapter 9**

**Moonlight Shadow**

"So... this is Kyouya's house..."

It was _not_ a house. Hibari lived in a huge Japanese mansion with a koi pond and everything. Mother of god...

_Why did I come here again?_

Oh right, she figured if Mukuro was going to kill her in the near future she might as well try to survive an encounter with Hibari to talk about their, uh, 'battle'. One homicidal maniac at a time, please. She couldn't find a doorbell or anything so she just called his phone.

"Hello? Kyouya?"

"What do you want, Kizuna?" His voice sounded a little raspy, as if it were hard to breathe. Despite his clear intentions to do bodily harm to her, Kira was a bit worried. From what Dino said this guy was really strong, and coming from Dino that was a huge compliment and a warning.

"I'm in front of your house. I've been looking for you everywhere. Can I come in?" She waited a few seconds for an answer. When nothing came she added, "It's about our fight."

She thought she heard a frustrated sigh and somewhere something beeped. The gates opened and wow this was one big ass garden. Hibari was living it up. Kira tried the front door and it was unlocked so she let herself in. The house was eerily quiet. _There are actually zero-signs of life. Holy shit._

She fidgeted in the main lobby area and looked around for clues to where Hibari might be. Nothing. The lack of noise didn't make it easier. Then, from the right staircase came Hibari clad in his pajamas. Black pants and a black t-shirt. Out of habit she waved at him. He didn't return the gesture.

"What happened to you?"

She barely dodged a tonfa in the face.

"Fine, we don't have to talk about that."

He began walking towards the back of the house and she followed about ten feet behind him. _Does this count as crowding? Ten feet should be enough space._

They sat across from each other and Kira gulped, nervous at what to say to not provoke him. He was so on edge she was regretting coming _so_ _much_, but it was too late to back out.

"It's hard to explain, but there's this other guy after me. And I know you called dibs on smashing my face in but I don't know... he's never going to drop it until I'm actually dead so..."

"Kizuna."

She looked up from her lap.

"I don't care."

She ground her teeth together. How could she make him understand that Mukuro would not stop until his revenge was complete?

"Look, you probably don't know him, but Rokudo Mukuro is-" the look on his face was enough to shut her up. He knew him. "You were there that day..."

_I'll have to thank Tsunayoshi for conveniently leaving that part out._

Judging from his attitude, his encounter didn't go well. No one's first encounter with Mukuro could go well. He was so unpredictable and, well, a really good fighter. Did Hibari lose? Her eyes focused on him. Yes, it was barely noticeable with the clothes but you could make out faint marks near his wrists and jaw.

"Anyway, he and I have this history." She could barely tell if he was listening anymore, but she went on. "I did something horrible and knowing him time has only made his grudge stronger so I can't fight you until I settle things with him."

The tension was palpable.

"Kyouya?"

Second tonfa dodged.

"Kizuna," he practically hissed out. She leaned back just a little bit as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "For the last time, I don't care what your schedule is. Now, if you have nothing else to say then get out of my house."

_I can't deal with this right now._ Kira wanted to die right there. By the time she healed Hibari was going to kill her so she had to deal with Mukuro in less than three weeks. _Fan-fucking-tastic._

"Fine, we'll do it your way." She didn't bother saying goodbye and practically ran from the house just in case he decided not to wait after all.

She drove halfway up the hill to Dino's mansion and pulled over. She wasn't in the mood to be talking yet and Dino would definitely poke her with questions. "For five minutes, if I could be someone else…" she slumped against the wheel. On the drive back, her mind was a whirlwind of crackpot ideas on how to deal with Mukuro, and they all ended the same. Talk to him. _It's a bit difficult with him being in a high security prison and all but there's still a chance._

* * *

><p>Kira stared at the time on her phone: 00:00. It was now or never. She closed her eyes and focused on letting the barriers in her mind down. One by one the walls fell until she felt a cold breeze sweep over her. In a swirling whirlwind of sakura petals appeared Mukuro. He gave a small smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.<p>

"Long time no see."

Kira nodded, her throat dry. She had only let this happen twice before. Once when they met, and the second when she left.

"You don't seem to be doing too well."

Kira wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Although it was fake, he was being so civil. It was so like him. After so many years and distance he hadn't changed at all. _No, that's not true. He has changed. He's permanently damaged._

"Is it that obvious?"

Mukuro's eyes dropped and he laughed lightly. It sounded sad but she knew that mocking tone behind it. "Are you afraid?"

_No use pretending._

"I've always been afraid."

He took a step towards her. "You always kept so many walls up."

"And?" She held her ground.

Mukuro shrugged and glanced off to the side like it was no big deal. "I just wanted to say hi. See what you were up to."

_Here it comes._

"Since it's not possible for me to be here in person—"

_Just get it over with._

"—because a certain someone left me to rot."

Kira was about to say something, but Mukuro wasn't done.

"And that's not all. Nope." He began circling her like a vulture. She followed him with her eyes. "Did you think I wouldn't find out that you were the one writing blueprints for my personal prison?" Her body went stiff at that. No, she didn't think he'd ever find out. There was no trail. "Oh, but don't worry; no one betrayed _you_. It just so happens that lesser minds are so much easier to read."

"So what do you want from me now?"

He stopped circling and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I've had a decade to think about that."

"And?" She stared him straight in the eyes.

"I don't know."

Kira almost forgot how to breathe. What? "Come again?"

"Don't get me wrong; I want revenge. I just haven't decided on the best form of revenge yet. It's not like I can make you experience exactly what I went through."

"I guess apologizing at this point is useless."

He laughed loudly at that. It was unrestrained and frankly made her back up a few steps because it sounded like he was going to snap. _He's saying, "As if words can do anything."_

"Where are you now?"

The laughter stopped and he looked at her seriously. "Why?"

"I might never be able to make up for what I did, but getting you out of there is a start," she said it with conviction in her voice, but she was shaking. Mukuro's gaze became sombre again.

"That's ridiculous."

"I'll do it."

"Then," he stalked towards her, "let me show you where I am." A very solid hand clamped over her forehead and his memories began washing over. It ended with his water chamber. Kira reached up with both hands and clutched at his wrist, trying to pry it off. It was enough. _I've seen enough._ He wasn't lying when he said his prison was personally designed for him. Kira really had constructed those blueprints, and his chamber, well, she made that herself. "Can you still do it?"

"I have to." The hand fell away and it was only then Kira registered the tears on her face. Embarrassed that she had just cried in front of her 'mortal enemy', she turned around and quickly wiped it away.

"I've been in there for seven years."

She didn't make any indication that she had heard him.

"You know what I'll do if you break me out."

"I know."

_Even so, I can't live with this guilt anymore. It's been tearing me apart for ten years._

The illusion began breaking. He hadn't bothered to construct anything nice. They stood in a pure white world, such an ill-fitting world. They were anything but pure.

"I promise I won't run this time."

Mukuro's illusion began breaking as Kira put up her walls again. He never broke eye-contact and she couldn't tell if he believed her or not. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she'd have to do it alone. There was no way Reborn or anyone else in the Vongola that would help her.

_And how would I explain myself later?_

Kira paced the floor, trying hard not to bite her nails. She never did it, but this stress was giving her some bad habits.

"And, oh yeah, I don't have any of my tools with me." She glared at the door. "A certain someone felt the need to confiscate them."

Defeated, she flopped down on her bed and flipped through her phone. Was there really no one that could help her?

_Wait just a second… Tsunayoshi's story… he said Mukuro had friends and they got away. Maybe I could…_ she shook her head. _No, that's stupid. He didn't say what their names were but I bet Ken and Chikusa are there. No telling what they'll do._

"Well, Chikusa might cooperate, but Ken won't stop until he's unconscious. And even then he still might try to kill me." She clutched her head and began rolling around on the bed. "Son of a gun!"

A knock on the door.

"Come in," she called, her voice muffled as she was face-planted in carpet having rolled off the bed.

"Hey—what are you doing?"

"Can't you tell?"

"…No."

Kira turned her head and looked up at Dino. "Brooding, okay?"

"What about?"

"Can't tell."

"Why not?"

"Just can't."

Dino's eye twitched. Such a child. "Sure… anyway. I was just checking up on your room since I felt a cold breeze coming from your door. Is wind leaking?"

"No," she averted her gaze. "I just had the window open."

He could tell she was hiding a lot, but decided not to pry. She would tell him when she was ready. "Alright. Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

She got up as the door clicked and leaned against the bed. Usually talking to Dino would make her feel better, but with this situation picking at her she couldn't help but feel annoyed. _Okay, let's be rational and stop freaking out for one second. Step one is to get into the prison._

"That'll be easy since I designed the blueprints…"

_Then I'll have to get to Mukuro's cell. Also fairly simple. Breaking him out is a bit dodgy though. _When she made his water cell she had put in a flaw on purpose. It was very simple; on the bottom of the cell inside a panel was a number pad that you could enter codes to control certain functions. One of those functions just happened to be the release mechanism.

_And not just the normal release that would set off an alarm, this one was independent of the security system. As long as they didn't find out about it during these seven years I can still use it._

"I'll have to carry Mukuro out afterwards… his body will need a lot of time to recover."

Apparently Mukuro could have broken out of the prison, but that would have meant leaving Ken and Chikusa. "Heh," she laughed mockingly at herself, "he's a better person than I am."

Even though he had crackpot schemes to takeover this and that she felt like fate had played a cruel trick on her. They both should have escaped that day. Either that, or he should have gotten out instead. In a way, she felt like she turned him into what he was now.

* * *

><p>For the next week, Kira trained earnestly with Dino. She had to build up as much muscle as possible if she was to drag around Mukuro for miles on end. She had also stocked up on adrenalin. She was so going to need it once she found Mukuro.<p>

"Sunday, seven o'clock in the morning. Today I'm taking a plane to Italy. When I arrive, I may or may not get out alive. But I have to do this or else the guilt will eat me alive. I already feel so jaded… it's now or never." Kira pushed the STOP button and set the recorder down under her pillow. "Dino will find this tonight after housekeeping."

_He'll know afterwards. _

He knew her history with Mukuro and she didn't know how he would react when he found out what she'd done. Or tried to do.

* * *

><p>Getting past security was easier than she anticipated. They just had two inmates break out and didn't increase the guards from the last time she came here. <em>Well, whatever. I just want to get to Mukuro's cell soon.<em> She peeked around the corner and saw that the coast was clear. Was this too easy? Yes. But something told her she should go anyway.

_Mukuro's cell… it's smaller than I remembered._

"Hey," she gave a tiny smile at him, but his eyes were closed. She knew he couldn't hear her. "Sorry it took so long. I swear I'll do anything it takes to make it up to you. I hope this shows that I'm sincere."

She punched the code into the dial pad—_4676779367383784464—_and watched as the water drained out. _Such a cheesy code too…_

The glass slid apart and she caught Mukuro. He was a lot heavier than she thought for someone with so much muscle decay, but still not nearly as heavy as Dino. _Those years of trying to prove I wasn't a weakling by making him let me give him piggyback rides paid off._

"Damn, you're heavy, you know that?" She slung one arm over her shoulder and had his feet dragging on the floor. It couldn't be helped since she sure as hell wasn't going to try to carry him like some prince in shining armor.

_Seven shots of adrenalin left before I have to resort to making my body produce more._

Each shot's effects would last her an hour. Two tops.

Security was so predictable. They went around in shifts doing the same route every hour. They also rarely checked up on Mukuro since his prison was supposed to be inescapable. Still, it was weird that after the prison break his security didn't increase.

She peeked around another corner and mentally cursed. There was someone there, but they didn't seem to see her. She looked around the corner again. Dude was asleep. _What the…_

"Glad I could help…" the voice startled her so bad she almost dropped him. Mukuro was awake. _Uhhh—shit—um, what do I do now…?_

"About time, sleeping beauty."

_Note to self: shut up._

He chuckled weakly and tried to stand but ended up leaning on her for support. "How do you like my handiwork?"

"Didn't know you could do that…" she swallowed nervously. Kira just realized she had no idea what he was capable of now. _Ten years is a long time to improve._ It didn't help that she knew what he was capable of before she left. The thought sent shivers up her spine. _How could I have overlooked this?_

But all things aside, they were making really good time now that he could sort of walk.

Three hours later and they were on the outskirts of some small town. Kira drove them back to her hotel so they could figure out a plan. She had left her mind open every night after before coming, but Mukuro hadn't tried to visit again.

"Well this is awfully fancy. I'm more used to hiding out in more humble accommodations."

Mukuro was really making himself at home while Kira paced the floor. She had to get him clothes. Clothes and food. Clothes, food and a passport. _Damn it all how am I going to sneak him into an airport?_ She paused. _Wait. Why do I even want to bring him back to Japan?_

"Did you just realize it?"

"…"

"You needn't worry."

She looked at him and saw the confident expression on his face. Whether she did anything for him now, it didn't matter. He was free and that was all he needed to get everything he desired. Mukuro's illusions now extended beyond just mind manipulation.

Kira gulped and slipped a hand into her pocket for the syringe. Mukuro's eyes followed her movement. He seemed delighted at her discomfort.

"Did you really expect anything else?" He rested his jaw on his fist and tilted his head to the side, looking amused. She knew he was urging her to use the adrenalin. But he was in no shape to fight… "I'll give you a head start."

"You're too kind."

She injected it and threw the syringe to the floor. _Not sure what to do now…_

"What now?"

He smirked and stood up. Her body tensed instinctively. Mukuro saw it and laughed. "Just stretching my legs." He yawned into his palm and Kira eyes widened as she saw his physique change. It wasn't a normal illusion… Mukuro could materialize things and now that he had recovered his strength he could send Godzilla after her.

_That also takes care of the clothing problem…_ he still chose to wear the Kokyou uniform. _That means—_

"When do we leave?"

_Well, shit._

Reborn and Dino were _so_ going to have her head on a stake.

"Now."

* * *

><p>Wow, it has been awhile! I'm going to blame the slow update on university. Yes, that's good. University is the root of all my stress. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! Next time we shall see how Hibari reacts to this. Damn that guy is really unpredictable… Shout out time~ Thank you to Rikkai and hyotei lover, Lady Syndra, Ryanrene97, TheBloodyArrow for the lovely reviews C: for a writer it's like crack.<p> 


End file.
